Cnemidocarpa mollis

(Stimpson, 1852)

Description

External appearance
Solitary. Body globular to ovoid, up to 15 mm in diameter. Test transparent, bearing fibrils and coated with sand, shells, etc.

Characters
Both siphons 4-lobed and placed close together anteriorly. About 32 simple branchial tentacles of variable size. Branchial sac with numerous rows of straight stigmata; four branchial folds on each side; longitudinal bars present. Gut left of branchial sac; stomach distinct, with 20-25 longitudinal folds and a single small liver diverticulum. Several parallel, elongated and cylindrical gonads on each side in mantle wall (3 to 6 on the left, 4 to 8 on the right) (C. mollis morphology).

Habitat
Loosely attached to, or partly embedded in sand or mud; from shallow water to depths of at least 100 metres

Distribution
Arctic-Boreal distribution.

%LABEL% (%SOURCE%)