The aboral or upper side of the disc is granular, and a pair of large scales, the radial shield, covers the base of each arm.

The colour varies, being often reddish or variegated, and sometimes purplish; the central scales on the disc often form a ten-pointed star and there are often darker bands on the arms.

In the northern Atlantic Ocean it is common around Iceland, Spitzbergen and Norway southwards to the North Sea.

[3] It is generally found on rocky substrates where it has a tendency to hide inside shells, in hollows and crevices.

[2] Ophiopholis aculeata feeds on detritus and small organisms that it traps with its tube feet and with mucus secreted by glands on its arms.