Indian Ocean: tip of South Africa eastward to Indian and Sri Lanka, including the Red Sea, Madagascar, Réunion and Mauritius. Western Pacific: Hokkaido to tropical Australia (as far south as Perth in the west and Sydney in the east), including Taiwan, Philippines, Moluccas, southern Papua New Guinea, Guam, Tonga, New Caledonia and New Zealand; Mariana Islands in Micronesia. Occurrence in the eastern Pacific remains problematic.

Color mottled green with numerous fleshy weed-like dermal appendages blending with the floating Sargassum weed in which it is usually found. Illicium much shorter than 2nd dorsal spine. Esca globular with short filaments. Skin smooth, without dermal spinules; pectoral stalk free from body for most of its length.

Found near the surface, usually associated with floating objects or Sargassum. Commonly blown into shore and bay waters during storms.