G.O. Sars, 1869
Description
— Generic features. General form slender and delicate. Eyes well developed, short, reniform and flattened dorso-ventrally, pigment brilliant red in living specimens. Antennal scale with outer margin entire or coarsely serrate, without setae, terminating in a strong spine beyond, no distal suture. Last four pairs of pleopods of the male well developed and biramous, first pair with endopod reduced to a single segment. Uropod, exopod and endopod undivided, setose alle round; no spines on outr margin of exopod; inner margin of endopod may be minutely serrated. Telson very short, entire, trapeziform, lateral margins naked; apex truncate, armed with 2 pairs of strong spines; no median plumose setae.
— Species. General form slender and delicate with the cephalothorax slightly wider than the abdomen; sterna of thoracic segments without club-shaped protuberances.
Carapace with anterior margin rounded and slightly more produced between the eyes than in E. serrata.
Antennal scale somewhat broader in proportion to the length than in E. serrata; outer margin with 5-6 serrations in the adult, fewer in immature specimens; apex of scale longer than the most distal serration.
Eyes smaller than in E. serrata and set more widely apart so that they extend laterally beyond the sides of the carapace in adult specimens. Pigment brilliant red.
Thoracic limbs extremely long and slender, becoming progressively longer posteriorly; endopod of eighth pair when stretched backwards extending beyond the tip of the uropod; propodus subdivided into two subequal parts; carpus about four times as long as the propodus. Pleopods as in E. serrata.
Telson broader at the base than in E. serrata, lateral margins straight, posterior margin very slightly convex with its spines relatively shorter than in E. serrata; outer pair of spines shorter than the inner in both sexes.
Uropods very similar to those of E. serrata with the inner margin of the endopod serrulated in females and immature males.
Colour
Very transparent with only slight traces of orange flecks; the dark contents of the distended stomach and gut usually clearly visible.
Size
Adult up to 18 mm long.
Depth range
Hyperbenthic, 150-400 m.
Distribution in the North Sea
Northern North Sea, off W Norway, Skagerrak.
World distribution
North Atlantic: 39 - 72°N. Shelf to bathyal. Widely distributed in boreal Atlantic waters.
[After Tattersall and Tattersall, 1951]