This worm is yellowish with white scales and about 20 mm (0.8 in) long with 41 segments and 16 pairs of elytra.

The first segment bears one or two chaetae and a pair of tentacular cirri on both the dorsal and ventral surfaces.

[3] This species was first described by the Norwegian zoologist Michael Sars in 1863 as Polynoe nivea but was later transferred to the genus Leucia which was established for it by the Finnish zoologist Anders Johan Malmgren in 1867.

[4] Leucia nivea occurs in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea as far north as the Skagerrak, the British Isles, southwards to the Azores and in the Mediterranean Sea.

It is found in the sublittoral zone at depths down to about 400 m (1,312 ft) on sand, shelly gravel, sponges such as Desmacidona[2] and cold water corals.