The physical characteristics of this order include well separated lateral plates, which expose the oral surface of radial ossicles.

The hyponeural groove is covered by soft integument, which forms a spacious epineural canal that is not closed over by ventral arm plates.

[2] The Oegophiurida are extinct except for a recent species, Ophiocanops fugiens, which has several remarkable features.

The skeleton is similar to other ophiuroids, except the paired right and left vertebrae are not fused, albeit set in orderly fashion.

Previously, the Oegophiurida were known only to exist from the lower Ordovician to the upper Carboniferous periods.