When very young they are covered in small white spines that typically fall off before maturity.
What small recovery there is takes the form of a few white straggly spines.not enough to serve their purpose.
The animal appears brownish with most of its body covered by up to 6,000 brown and white spines.
The adults have a white spine on the caudal peduncle.
It has long, white, strong spines can grow up to 1.5 metres high and 3m wide.
They have a conspicuous fringe of white spines along the margins.
Plants have dark green skin almost completely obscured by delicate white spines.
The caterpillars are black with white or yellow spines along their backs.
Straight, white spines grow from the branch nodes in pairs.
The margins of the arms are fringed with short white spines.