Common name: Polychaete.
Scientific name: Hermodice carunculata (Pallas, 1766)
Family: Amphinomidae
Distribution and Habitat: Its presence in the region is very common and may be found from the mediolittoral to the circalittoral, where it feeds on sponges and ascidia.
Description: It may reach 40 cm in length and 2 cm in width. The body is elongated, dorso-ventrally flattened and composed of about 120 segments. The colouration is highly variable, yet there is a predominance of brown on the central part of the back and of a whitish or yellowish colour on the two lateral stripes. In the region where the segments join, the colouration is light and the ventral part is orange-coloured. It has side appendages with many bristles.
Conservation statute and Threats: -
Observations: It defends itself from predators by secreting an urticating substance kept in the bristles covering its body.