It is a medium-sized coral snake with a slender body. Adults are usually 140 centimetres (5 ft) long, though larger specimens have been captured. The color is indigo or deep blue with light blue or white stripes along each side of the body. The head, venter, and tail are usually bright red. It has a blunt snout with a pair of small eyes on the sides of the head.
The snake, especially when juvenile, is often confused with the pink-headed reed snake (Calamaria schlegeli) as they share similar habitat and appearance. But the latter is much smaller (max. 50 cm) than fully grown Calliophis bivirgatus. It may be dangerous to confuse these two species as the reed snake is a nonvenomous snake, whereas the blue Malaysian coral snake has a potentially lethal venom.
