Key facts

Length up to 20 cm, width 2–3 mm. Body slender, purplish brown, ending in a pale caudal cirrus (sometimes lost). Head eyeless, slightly wider and much paler than body (apex whitish, translucent) with a highly characteristic transverse band of bright yellow grains and long lateral slits. Found on sandy, gravelly and muddy bottoms at a depth of 5–40 m.