[2] The name of the genus is taken from Aphrodite, the Ancient Greek goddess of love, said to be because of a supposed resemblance to human female genitalia.

The body of the sea mouse is covered in a dense mat of setae (hairlike structures).

Normally, these have a deep red sheen, warning off predators, but when the light shines on them perpendicularly, they flash green and blue, a "remarkable example of photonic engineering by a living organism".

The effect is produced by many hexagonal cylinders within the spines, which "perform much more efficiently than man-made optical fibres".

[2] Feeding activity takes place at night, with the animal partially buried in sand.