It has characteristics which are shared with two other genera, Opisthoteuthis and Grimpoteuthis, but is sufficiently distinctive from either of these to warrant the erection of a new genus.

The fins are small and round, and their length is equal to half the width of the head.

It has short arms, each with a single row of small, broad suckers and with a double row of cirri which are of moderate length, with each cirrus just longer than the diameter of the suckers.

The eyes are laterally positioned and the optic nerve passes through the white body in a single bundle.

[3] Cryptoteuthis brevibracchiata was described from a single specimen, an immature female, collected in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean near the Porcupine Seabight at 49°54 N, 12°21 W from a depth of between 2,274 and 2,300m, south west of Ireland.