Anurida maritima is a wingless animal, typically up to 3 mm long, and dark slaty blue in colour.

[3] The entire body is covered with white hydrophobic hairs which allow the animal to stay above the surface of the water on which it spends much of its life.

This is apparently because when other springtails are placed upon water, surface tension unfolds their furcula and renders them unable to jump, so it has probably been lost by disuse.

In the British Isles, it is missing from the north-east of Scotland and has not been recorded from south-east Ireland.

[4] Anurida maritima is a significant scavenger of the upper intertidal zone, feeding on dead animals, chiefly crustaceans (including barnacles) and molluscs.