Torpedoes have been recorded from three scattered locations in the Florida Straits and the western Caribbean Sea, and appear to inhabit coral habitats.

A small species growing up to 32 cm (13 in) long, the Florida torpedo has a nearly circular pectoral fin disc with a short, thick tail.

The sole two specimens of the Florida torpedo were caught over the western Grand Cayman Bank in November 1960 by the Silver Bay, which was conducting exploratory shrimp trawling on behalf of the U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries (a predecessor of the National Marine Fisheries Service).

The species was described in a 1962 issue of Bulletin of Marine Science of the Gulf and Caribbean by Harvey Bullis, who named it after his colleague and mentor William Anderson.

This ray has also been observed off the Grand Cayman and San Andreas Islands in the western Caribbean Sea, in both cases amongst scattered coral and gorgonians at depths of 11 and 18 m (36 and 59 ft) respectively.

The entire upper surface is covered by a mottled pattern of small, irregularly spaced brown blotches.