(van Beneden, 1861)
Description
Carapace with a pair of lateral ridges on either side in both sexes, but these are sometimes only faintly defined. In the female a pair of semicircular folds may sometimes be seen on the dorsum of pereionite 2. In life patches of purplish brown pigment are often present on the carapace and especially on pleonite 5.
Flagellum of antenna 2 reaches beyond the end of the pleon. Female uropods as long as the last three pleonites together; the number of spines on the peduncle and the proximal and distal segments of the inner ramus is variable, none to five, three to nine, and two to six respectively.
No free telson.
Ecology
Mainly an intertidal species, burrowing into fine sand from the mid-tide downwards on sheltered beaches but also found subtidally down to a depth of a few metres.
Size
Length of male up to 5 mm, of female up to 6 mm.
Depth range
Intertidal, to a depth of a few metres.
Distribution in the North Sea
Northern and southern North Sea.
World distribution
NE Atlantic, along the coasts of NW Europe, to Morocco as well as in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Also recorded from the coast of South Vietnam.
[After Jones, 1976]