The prostomium has two pairs of eyes that are arranged in a square shape and two lateral antennae. Two prebuccal lobes in front of the eyes have a pair of tapering palps on them. The caruncle is elongated and smooth and extends to the third chaetiger. Each segment from the second chaetiger onwards has a pair of dendroidal branchiae. In some specimens branchiae from the second to the sixth chaetiger are dark green in colour instead of red. Parapodia are biramous with finger like ventral and dorsal cirri that are all very alike in size. There are two types of notochaetae present. One is very narrow with a small spur that is hollow and the other is much thicker with a marked spur that is also hollow. Both of these hollow chaetae contain Complanine, which is a substance that stimulates irritation and inflammation when it comes into contact with other organisms. White chaetae bundles form two longitudinal bands around the body. They have an eversible pharynx that has no teeth, jaws or papillae. They are usually around five to ten centimetres in length. Colouration of the body ranges from stone grey to salmon pink. Bristles are opaque white in colour (Barroso & Paiva 2007).