The carapace and abdomen are smooth, and adults are white with pink and brown markings and a conspicuous pair of long, slim claws.

Although individuals can live for up to 15 years, the species shows low fecundity, where small numbers of larvae hatch at an advanced stage.

M. challengeri is a significant prey item for ling, as well as being an important fishery species for human consumption; trawlers catch around 1,000 t (2,200,000 lb) per year under the limitations of New Zealand's Quota Management System.

Metanephrops challengeri is a slender lobster, typically 13–18 centimetres (5.1–7.1 in) long, but exceptionally up to 25 cm (9.8 in),[2] and weighing up to 100 grams (3.5 oz) each.

[4] Bright red bands extend across the base of the rostrum, the posterior edge of the carapace, the chelipeds, and each of the abdominal segments.

[2] It lives in burrows in a variety of "suitable cohesive" sediments,[8] and is a significant prey item for ling (Genypterus blacodes).

[11] This can cause "destruction of the skeletal and heart muscles of infected lobsters", but its significance for the animals and for the fishing industry remains unclear.

[11] The fishery is centred on four areas of continental shelf of the submerged continent Zealandia: the Campbell Plateau around the Auckland Islands, Chatham Rise, along the Wairarapa coast, and in the Bay of Plenty.

[12] Most of the fishing vessels used to capture M. challengeri are 20–40 metres (66–131 ft) long, with "double or triple trawl rigs of low headline height".

[13] Metanephrops challengeri was the subject of a 2003 select committee inquiry in the New Zealand parliament, after allegations of corruption arose against officers of the Ministry of Fisheries.

[3] In response, the government introduced M. challengeri into their Quota Management System[14] and paid compensation to some fishermen who had a justified grievance.

[20] Jenkins inferred that this group of species had originated off northern Australia or in Indonesia, and that M. challengeri had reached New Zealand in the late Tertiary and displaced M. motunauensis, which formerly lived there.