The organism features a nearly circular carapace and an oval, laterally compressed body clearly divided into head and trunk. Its rostrum’s anterodorsal border is serrated, lacking a fornix, while it possesses a simple tubular antennule and a telson with spines. The transparent bivalve carapace displays varying numbers of concentric growth lines, predominantly with seven. It has compound eyes and an ocellus, with a short, unsegmented antennule and large, biramous antennae bearing two long flagella, each with seven segments. The postabdomen is adorned with eight pairs of serrated spines, and its coloration is transparent white. This branchiopod species typically ranges in size from 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm. Regarding its life cycle, it engages in sexual reproduction involving both males and females. Initially, eggs are briefly carried in modified brood pouches before being released into the environment. There are approximately nine developmental stages, with six being larval and three post-larval. The first four stages occur within the egg membrane. A significant morphological transition occurs between stages VI and VII, with the larva changing from a dorsoventrally flattened appearance to a laterally flattened, more adult-like form. The carapace develops from segments of the first and second maxillae, where the anterior ramus of the antenna in the adult becomes the endopod and the posterior ramus becomes the exopod. This direct development of the brood in C. hislopi is distinct among conchostracans.