It is typically found on the seabed in the north eastern Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea and is sometimes known as the serpent's table brittle star.

The underside of the disc is a pale colour and has a central mouth with five large plates modified as jaws and fringed with teeth.

[1][3] It is common round the coasts of the British Isles and has occurred at densities as great as 900 per 1 square metre (11 sq ft).

[1] Ophiura albida is a predator and scavenger and feeds on such small invertebrates as polychaete worms, crustaceans and bivalve molluscs.

[4] In the Irish Sea it is eaten along with the common brittle star (Ophiothrix fragilis) by the fast-moving seven armed starfish (Luidia ciliaris).