[1] It was first described by the Scottish marine zoologist Charles Wyville Thomson (who had been chief scientist on the Challenger Expedition) and named in honour of Pelham Aldrich, a British naval officer and explorer.

[3] Bathycrinus aldrichianus is a ten-armed sea lily, the first and second arms, the fourth and fifth, and the seventh and eighth having syzygies (being joined together at the base).

The arms are connected to the base ring of the crown and consist of a series of jointed rectangular plates with ribs on the exterior surface.

[3] The temperature at these depths is close to 0 °C (32 °F), and this species is found in areas with slight or moderate currents.

When observed from a submersible, the roots were immersed in the sediment, the lower two thirds of the stem were held vertically and the upper third curved and the arms opened to form a filtration fan held perpendicular to the substrate and often slightly reflexed.