The sides of the head, body, and limbs are dark cinnamon or buffy-brown and the underparts and underside of the tail are usually some lighter shade of brown.

It is closely related to the black-tailed jackrabbit on the Mexican mainland, but the latter species is exposed to terrestrial predators and does not display melanism.

The black jackrabbit shares its habitat with the Espíritu Santo antelope squirrel (Ammospermophilus insularis), the spiny pocket mouse (Chaetodipus spinatus), the cactus mouse (Peromyscus eremicus), the desert woodrat (Neotoma lepida), and the ring-tailed cat (Bassariscus astutus).

The chief threats it faces are from the introduction of non-native species and the disturbance of its habitat by humans, and the IUCN has rated its conservation status as being "near threatened".

[5] It is a favoured ecotourism destination and in 1995 was declared to be part of a Biosphere Reserve, Islas del Golfo de California, by UNESCO.