E-Fauna BC: Electronic Atlas of the Wildlife of British Columbia

Henricia aspera aspera is a long-armed sea star with a coarse, meshwork of ridges on the aboral surface bearing groups of 5 to 15 small, sharp spinelets, and with large papular areas between the ridges. The body colour is yellow to brick red with a paler oral side. The five thin arms are up to 16 cm long, and the arm-to-disc ratio is from 5.3 to 7.2. The supero- and inferomarginals form an obvious double series along the arm. The intermarginals form a triangular patch in the proximal one-fifth of the arm. The oral intermediates occur proximally for three-quarters of the arm. The adambulacrals have 1 or 2 spinelets deep in the furrow with 2 to 8 coarse spinelets in a transverse zigzag or double row on the oral surface, the two nearest the furrow being the largest.

Henricia aspera aspera can be distinguished from other Henricia species by its large size, the open meshwork of ridges on the aboral surface bearing groups of small spinelets, and the small number of adambulacral spines.