It was first described in 1802 by the French naturalist Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc, one of fourteen marine invertebrates described and named by him.

[4] Bunodosoma cavernatum is a robust species with a muscular trunk covered with 96 vertical rows of small, rounded, wart-like vesicles.

[5] Bunodosoma cavernatum is native to the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, its range extending from North Carolina to Texas, including Florida and the West Indies.

It occurs in the lower part of the intertidal zone on rocks and jetties, and on other hard substrates underlying gravelly or sandy bottoms.

[3] Bunodosoma cavernatum is nocturnal; during the night it expands and spreads out its tentacles to feed but during the day, it contracts into a reddish gelatinous blob.