This sponge-eating nudibranch ranges from bright yellow to white in colour, with orange spots on the mantle. Rhinophores and gills are the same colour as the rest of the animal. There are a number of similar species, from the pale form of Goniobranchus epicurius, which has a white halo around its spots, Chromodoris tasmaniensis, which has much more dense spotting, and the almost identical Diversidoris sulphurea, which only has spots on the edge of its mantle, but not in the middle.