[3][4] Its specific name is from the Latin attrīta ("bruised, worn away"), presumably referring to the mutilated or decomposed state of the type specimens.

[6] Its upper jaw reaches to behind the eye, and it has a lateral line of 43–48 photophores.

[8] Its scales are deciduous and its skin contains small fluid-filled compartments.

[9] Its eyes contain convexiclivate temporal foveae containing densely packed ganglia.

[10] Rouleina attrita is engybenthic or bathypelagic, meaning that it swims near the seafloor, living at depths of 450–2,300 m (1,480–7,550 ft).