Their five arms have waned to only obtuse angles (and sometimes rounded off or truncated).

Two species Culcita novaeguineae and Culcita schmideliana are extremely similar and almost impossible to differentiate by sight, except that C. schmideliana has larger tubercles, that are normally absent from papular areas[1] (though both species can also be naked).

The third species, C. coriacea, lives in the Red Sea and around Arabia, and is slightly different in appearance.

This genus is not to be confused with similar cushion-shaped species such as Halityle regularis.

[2] The juveniles are flat and pentagonal, and can look like "biscuit sea stars" from the family Goniasteridae (such as Peltaster spp.).