This species is found the northern Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Japan and Alaska to San Miguel Island off southern California.

[5] The specific name cirrhosus means "curled" or "bearing tendrils", an allusion to the elongated, whiskery barbels on the snout and chin.

[6] Blepsias cirrhosus has a deep, compressed body which is covered in papillae which enclose a small spine that is embedded in a bony plate in the skin.

[3] The color is brownish to greenish on the upper body with dark blotches on the back, this changes to reddish or yellowish ventrally.

[3] Blepsias cirrhosus has external fertilization, although insemination occurs internally the eggs are then injected into a sponge, in the tissue near to the gastral cavity.