It is white with rather sparse pink spines, and is endemic to the eastern coast of North America including the Gulf of Mexico.

The joints between the ambulacral plates and the pores through which the tube feet project are both sunken below the general surface of the test.

[2] Echinus tylodes is found on the East Coast of the United States from Cape Cod southwards to the Straits of Florida[2] and in the Gulf of Mexico.

[2] A deepwater video survey of the seabed over the Cape Fear coral mound off North Carolina found the sea urchins E. tylodes and the rather similar Echinus gracilis associated with squat lobsters (Eumunida picta) and spider crabs (Rochinia crassa).

Other invertebrates present included the deepwater starfish (Novodinia antillensis) and the flytrap anemone (Actinoscyphia saginata).