This chiton has a large fleshy girdle, with a fringed margin of spicules. As with most other acanthochitons, there are also tufts of long spicules, golden in this case, in the girdle around the valves. The girdle is usually a reddish colour, mixed with greens, browns or whites. The valves are covered in oval-shaped pustules, that get smaller towards the centre (jugum), where they can also be eroded smooth. This genus is particularly difficult to identify to species, and usually relies on minute differences in the valve sculpture.
