Amage auricula Malmgren, 1866

Synonyms:
Sabellides brevicaudata Sars, 1866
Sabellides brevicirrata McIntosh, 1922

Distinguishing characteristics
No paleae.
Short and thick body with a very short conical abdomen.
Pattern of four branchiae (three of each group arranged in an inverted triangle, the fourth one nearer to the middorsum and obliquely behind the posterior one of the three).

Species description
Body short, with a very short, conical abdomen. Prostomium with three lobes and a pair of glandular ridges on the middle lobe, no eyespoots. Two groups of comparatively large branchiae widely separated at middorsum and connected by a membrane, three branchiae of each group arranged in an inverted triangle, the fourth one nearer to the middorsum and obliquely behind the posterior one of the three. 14 thoracic segments with notopodia with capillary chaetae, the posterior 11 also with neuropodia with uncini. 8 uncinigerous abdominal segments. Pygidium with a pair of small papillae. Tube- conical, irregularly bent, comprised of a thin layer of secretion and a thick layer of mud.

Size
Worm up to 12mm long. Tube to 3mm wide.

Color
In alcohol orange yellow or pale yellow.

Habitat
Mainly on muddy or mixed bottoms.
Upper sublittoral to depths exceeding 1000 m.

Mobility
Mobile.

Feeding
Surface deposit feeder.
Facultative suspension feeder.

Life cycle

Distribution
Eastern North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Canadian Arctic, Quebec, Atlantic coast of the USA, Arctic, Japan, East India. East Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, Norwegian Sea, entire Norwegian coast, north coast of Jutland, Skagerrak, Kattegat, southeastern North Sea.