Capitella capitata (Fabricius, 1780)

Siddique, Alfisa, Purushothaman, Jasmine, Bhowal, Aishee & Mandal, Sumit, 2021, Distribution and diversity of Polychaeta (Phylum: Annelida) in the Northern coastal waters of Bay of Bengal, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 121 (4), pp. 453-463 : 458-459

18. Capitella capitata (Fabricius, 1780)

1780. Lumbricus capitatus Fabricius, Hafniae, Impensis Ioannis Gottlob Rothe. , 279.

1967. Capitella capitata Day, Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. , 595.

Diagnosis: Body is long (about 120 mm comprising 100 segments), cylindrical, tapering at both ends and wide anteriorly. Prostomium conical with similar length and breadth, possessing two small eyes ventrally and two nuchal organs behind eyes. Thorax containing 9 setigers. Only capillary setae present in the first 6–7 segments, 7 th segment with both capillary setae and hooks and segments beyond 7 with only hooks. A single genital pore opens mid-dorsally between setigers 8 and 9. Pygidium lacks cirri. Absence of gills. Body colour is reddish-brown to purple, in alcohol it decolourises to transparent ( Blake, 2009).

Distribution: India - Cannanore, Trivandrum, Pondicherry, Nellore, Nizamapatnam, Machilipatnam, Kakinada ( Musale & Desai, 2011), Thondi, Palk bay ( Anbuchezhian et al., 2012). World – Cosmopolitan. Red Sea, Arabian Gulf ( Wehe & Fiege, 2002), Northern Cyprus (Eastern Mediterranean Sea) ( Çinar, 2005), West Greenland ( Blake, 2009), Cap Bon Peninsula, North-Eastern coast of Tunisia, Western Mediterranean Sea ( Zaâbi et al., 2012).