Disk circular to pentagonal (dd = 4.96 to 9.67 mm). Covered by small granules, except on radial shields (Fig. 13f). Radial shields oval. Ventral interradius covered by granules similar to dorsal ones (Fig. 13g). Four short bursal slits. Oral shields heart-shaped (Fig. 13h). Adoral shields small, laterally broadened, not covered by granules. Seven to nine oral papillae on each side of jaw angle (Fig. 13h), the three proximal ones small and elongate, the following ones becoming progressively wider, the last being elongate, narrow and partially covered by preceeding papilla. Single long and robust apical papilla. Dorsal arm plate wider than long (Fig. 13i). Ventral arm plate longer than large, with distal margin rounded (Fig. 13j). Seven to nine small and compressed arm spines, the ventral largest and partially covered by the outer tentacle scale. Two tentacle scales, the inner one long and narrow, the outer one small and subtriangular.

The Bahamas, the islands off southern Florida, the Antilles, Mexican Caribbean, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, coast and islands off Caribbean Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil (H.L. Clark 1915, 1933, Tommasi 1970, Chavarro et al. 2004, Durán-Gonzáles et al. 2005, Alvarado et al. 2008, Hernández-Herrejón et al. 2008). In Brazil from Ceará (Lima-Verde 1969), Rio Grande do Norte (Albuquerque 1986), Paraíba (Gondim et al. 2008), the oceanic island Fernando de Noronha off Pernambuco (Tommasi 1970), Alagoas (Miranda et al. 2012), Abrolhos off Bahia (Tommasi 1970), Bahia (H.L. Clark 1915, Costa and Costa 1962), oceanic island Trindade off Espírito Santo (Brito 1971), Rio de Janeiro (Brito 1962), and São Paulo (Netto et al. 2005). Intertidal to 1.718 m. In present study, recorded from 10 to 34 m.

This is one of the most common and largest species in the genus, and differs from other Ophioderma from Brazil, such as Ophioderma appressa (Say, 1825), and Ophioderma januarii Lütken, 1856, by the following characteristics: 1. radial shields within granular covering; 2. dorsal arm plates partitioned. Tommasi (unpublished data) suggested that Ophioderma besnardi Tommasi, 1970 represents the young of Ophioderma cinerea Müller & Troschel, 1842 before the dorsal plates were divided. More detailed studies are currently being developed to elucidate the taxonomic status of these species. It lives in muddy bottoms, corals (Tommasi 1970), mangroves, and seagrass beds (Hendler et al. 1995).