Philomedes brenda

(Baird, 1850)

Description
Shell elongate ovoid to almost circular; surface with densely placed small hollows. Posterior shell margin without rounded process. Higher and with better developed rostrum and incisure in males than in females. Seventh limb with pegs that are not longer than broad. The frontal organ is long, slender and pointed. Furcal margin with long hairs between the claws (Poulsen (1969). Length females 2.3-3.1 mm, males 2.4-3.2 mm (larger specimens occur at high latitudes).
Kornicker (1987) records it as being the most abundant myodocopid in the Skagerrak.

Size
Female 2.3-3.1 mm, male 2.4-3.2 mm carapace length.

Depth range
P. brenda appears to be an epibenthic species of the shelf and upper slope, which is occasionally caught in the water column.

Distribution in the North Sea
Northern North Sea, Skagerrak.

World distribution
Kornicker (1982) records this as being a widespread species in the Arctic and North Atlantic reaching as far south as 54°N in the E Atlantic, but other records show that its distribution must extend appreciably further south (Angel, 1993).

[After Angel, 2000]

%LABEL% (%SOURCE%)