Smith (1943) describes the species as follows:[4] Head short, snout declivous and much narrowed anteriorly; eye moderate; rostral as high as broad; prefrontals small, usually not in contact with the supralabials; frontal much longer than broad, nearly as long as its distance from the end of the snout: 1 pre- and 1 postocular; 6 supralabials, the last often confluent with the single anterior temporal, the 3rd and 4th touching the eye: 7–8 infralabials, the first three in contact with the genitals, both pairs of which are well developed and in contact with one another.

21 or 23, rarely 19, at mid-body, imbricate and strongly keeled; Ventrals 225–253 for specimens from the coasts of India and Gulf of Siam; 247-278 for 11 examples from Cap St. Jacques and S. Annam (fide Bourret, p. 25).

Hemipenis forked near the tip; it is spinose throughout, the spines being of moderate size, closely set and becoming slightly larger as they approach the proximal end.

Indian Ocean (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar (Burma), Mergui Archipelago), Coast of Taiwan, South China Sea, Bay of Bengal (to Sri Lanka), along coasts of W Malaysia to Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Siam, Indonesia (Borneo).

The preferred natural habitat of H. jerdonii is shallow marine waters with mud, sand, or gravel bottoms, at depths not greater than 30 m (98 ft).