Zygonemertes virescens (Verrill 1879)

generally for group, they are carnivorous; in some cases only the body juices are ingested but the whole prey may be taken in. feed on protozoans, other microfauna and at times prey their own size

Bay of Fundy south at least to Chesapeake Bay

benthic, living under rocks or in burrows in soft substrata, or crawling among algae, hydroids, or in bottom debris

Six specimens up to about 30 mm long, < 2 mm wide; dorsoventrally flattened, bluntly rounded at both ends. Variable color, from white to yellow or greenish. Cerebral organ furrows shallow, precerebral. Numerous pre-cerebral small ocelli arranged in two pair irregular rows of about 15–20 ocelli each; row of post-cerebral ocelli each side between brain and lateral margin of body, extending far posterior to brain along lateral nerve cord. Rhynchopore subterminal; rhynchocoel wide and almost full body length; proboscis long with small papillae; stylet slender (length: 60 µm) supported on massive and medially constricted basis (112 × 28 µm); two pouches, each bearing 3 accessory stylets. Epidermis with minute crescent-sphaped intracellular spicules.

Gulf of Mexico and New England (Norenburg 2009); California and Oregon (Corrêa 1964); Southern Florida and Virgin Islands (Corrêa 1961); Gulf of Maine (Gibson 2014c); North Atlantic (Azores) (Strand 2002); Santa Marta, Colombia.