The head is rounded and tapers to a slender tail, but with a thicker and more robust body than the closely related Careproctus spiraki.

The skin is thin and covered with small bumps topped with tiny prickles.

The mouth of this species is a little more than 1 cm wide and is lined with small teeth.

Since seawater absorbs longer wavelengths of light, this color makes them harder to see for predators.

Among the four C. maslenikovae collected were three reproductively mature females from 36.9 to 40.3 mm long which were ripe with yolked eggs.