Distributed throughout the waters of the western Pacific, from Japan to the Philippine Islands. It is a species of deep water, living between one hundred and seven hundred meters below the surface.

It has two types of spines; the secondary spines, long and sharp as is usual among sea urchins, located on the underside and periphery of the shell, and the primary spines; shorter and sharply truncated, opening in an unusual trumpet shape, creating rounded scutes. The primary spines are much more numerous than the others and are located throughout the upper face of the animal