Shell medium sized for genus do 149.7 mm SL; average adult 124.6 mm SL, n = 14). angular fusiform with pronounced shoulder ornamentation. Protoconch smooth, glassy, with 1.5 highly inflated whorls, terminating abruptly at first axial rib. Teleoconch of eight or nine whorls with adprcssed suture. Axial sculpture of broad ribs with deep troughs; whorl prolile noticeably angular from third or fourth whorl. Ribs continue to span sutures until body whorl. Shoulder often with two angles, the sharper at the periphery, the second shortly above it, both angles defined by spiral cords, with one cord in between. Six strong, polished spiral cords on early whorls that cross axial ribs without weakening: cords constrict slightly in troughs between ribs, where they are crossed by numerous well-defined axial growth lines. Number of spiral cords increases to between nine and ten on penultimate whorl; cords broadly spaced, those above shoulder finer and weaker than those below; several faint minor cords often present between major cords, especially below shoulder. Numerous spiral cords below suture line on body whorl, often joined in closely-set pairs that resemble flat ribbons. Subsutural band of varying width, becoming less pronounced on body whorl.
Aperture with angular labral margin, often slightly ventricose in lower part; slightly pinched at terminus of suture. Labral wall with internal sculpture of irregular spiral ribs that often bifurcate or disintegrate shortly before margin; spacing of ribs corresponds to troughs between outer spiral cords, but shell not corrugated. Labral margin plain, not thickened in adults; termini of spiral cords slightly oblique, but with no developed dentition. Parietal callus thin, revealing underlying spiral cords; callus margin only slightly detached in mature adults, and often only in lower half: columellar margin of canal detached over entire length. Canal open, somewhat sinuous, flaring slightly towards distal end. Neck thick, slightly recurved in lower half, with distinct fasciole at distal end: spiral cords on body whorl persist on upper two thirds of neck, becoming reduced or obsolete on distal third.
Shell pale off-white to pure white overall, but protoconch and early whorls pale brown. Spiral cords often pale brown over part or whole of teleoconch. Aperture white.
Periostracum moderately thick, mid-brown, composed of very numerous axial lamellae bearing erect thorns. Operculum typical fusinine: thick, brown, chitinous. with nucleus at pointed and slightly reflected terminus.

Though frequently misidentified in collections, Fusinus nodosoplicatus is remarkably consistent morphologically. Among sympatric congeners, it can be distinguished from F. perplexus by its strong shoulder bearing a row of biangular knobs that persist almost to the aperture, by its broader neck, and by the absence of developed labral dentition even in gerontic adults. It differs from F salisburyi by its smaller size, its more pronounced shoulder and more angular early shell profile, by the persistence of axial sculpture on the body whorl and by the absence of the distinctive "pseudoumbilicus" of F salisburyi.
Smith (1879) considered F inconstans (Lischke. 1868) from Japan to be a junior synonym of F perplexus, but this is not supported here, following examination of Lischke's material and figures.

F nodosoplicatus is distributed on the Pacific coast of Japan from the Kii Peninsula westwards, in the Japan sea from northern Yamaguchi Prefecture (Mishima Island; Kawamoto & Tanabe. 1956) westwards, in the East China Sea off western Kyushu and in southern Korea.