Very spiny, with the disc covered by a field of small spinelets and 8–10 long, thin spines on each arm segment. The colour is usually pink and light brown with red stripes on the arms, but yellow animals are also sometimes found. It occurs abundantly among plants and sessile animals on coastal reefs, but is not often observed because of its preference for small cracks.

• Depth: 0-137m

• IUCN Threat Status: Vulnerable
• Occurrence: Widespread (100% of sites)
  Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
• Abundance: Solitary (1 per transect)
  Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.