(Rathke, 1843)
Description
Rostrum virtually straight, not more than half length of carapace; seven or eight dorsal teeth, four or five of these being behind posterior edge of orbit and the posterior five or six teeth being movable; two, occasionally three ventral teeth [Pandalina-c ].
Carapace with antennal and pterygostomian spines.
Stylocerite broadly rounded, shorter than eye.
Scaphocerite outer border slightly convex, apical spine exceeding lamellar portion. Third maxilliped 1-1.2 x length of scaphocerite; epipod present.
Mandible with molar and incisor processes, and three- segmented palp with lateral lobe on proximal segment.
Pereiopods 1-4 with epipods, pereiopod 5 with setobranch. Pereiopod 1 minutely chelate. Pereiopod 2 asymmetrical: pereiopod 2 right: carpus of four segments; pereiopod 2 left: carpus of fourteen to twenty segments.
Dactylus of pereiopod 3 with subapical spine and four spines on the posterior margin [Pandalina-d ].
Telson with six to nine pairs of lateral spines.
Remarks
P. brevirostris is a dioecious species. A closely related deep water species, Pandalina profunda, has been described by Holthuis (1946) and specimens from deep water localities (down to 1000 m) should be checked against this description.
Size
Length up to 33 mm.
Colour
Whitish or semi-translucent with orange and yellow chromatophores. Cardiac and branchial regions reddish.
Ecology
Hyperbenthic species, may swim up at night, mostly confined to the nepheloid layer; adults may get caught with pelagic sampling.
Ovigerous females occur from January to October.
Depth range
Down to about 100 m.
Distribution in the North Sea
All North Sea; larvae reported from CPR areas B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, D2 (Lindley, 1987) CPR/NorthSea; adult found in southern North Sea.
World distribution
Ranges from Norway (up to 60°30'N) south into the Mediterranean and Adriatic. Also known from the Atlantic coast of Morocco.
[mainly after Smaldon, 1993]