Its common names refer to its distinctive, elaborate color pattern of small and large dark spots, which include "clown faces" beneath each dorsal fin.

Reaching 49 cm (19 in) in length, this species has a very slender body with a short, flattened head and a large lobe of skin in front of each nostril.

The first specimens of the magnificent catshark were caught during a 1989 joint Thai-Burmese survey of the Myanmar continental shelf, and described by Peter Last and Vararin Vongpanich in a 2004 issue of the Phuket Marine Biological Center Research Bulletin.

The type specimen is a female 49 cm (19 in) long, collected by Weera Pokapunt aboard the FRTV Chulabhorn.

The nostrils are sizable and divided by well-developed lobes of skin on the anterior margins; the incurrent openings are tubular in appearance.

The large, horizontally oval eyes are placed moderately high on the head and bear rudimentary nictitating membranes (protective third eyelids); there are prominent ridges underneath.

The coloration is distinctive, consisting of a dense variegated pattern of dark markings ranging from tiny to larger than the eye, on a brownish background.