Microcosmus claudicans

(Savigny, 1816)

Description

External appearance
Solitary. Body globular to ovoid, up to 40 mm in diameter. Test thick, leathery, wrinkled, bearing fine hairs with adhering sand, shells, etc.

Characters
Both siphons large and 4-lobed. About 20 branched branchial tentacles of variable size. Branchial sac with numerous rows of straight stigmata; with about 8 branchial folds on each side; longitudinal bars present. Gut left of branchial sac; stomach bearing many diverticula forming a complex liver. One large sac-like gonad one on each side, the left gonad covering much of the intestine (M. claudicans morphology).

Habitat
Attached to hard substrata; from shallow water down to about 40 metres.

Distribution
From the British Isles down to the Mediterranean.

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