It is a small (less than 8 cm (3.1 in) mantle length), deep maroon-colored squid that inhabits the meso- and bathypelagic zones of all oceans of the world, and is particularly abundant in the Southern Ocean where it seems to be the dominant small deep-sea squid.

The arms of B. abyssicola are short, with blunt tips.

Protective membranes are low, fleshy, without free trabeculae (beam- or finger-like protuberances).

Sucker rings on the arms have 8–18 separated, bluntly rounded to truncate protuberances.

They have large photosensitive vesicles just behind the eyes which appear to detect bioluminescence.