Length, 12 mm; diameter, 5 mm

Shell: high-spired, truncate anteriorly; with axial ribs becoming nodular at the periphery of the last whorl; white spirally banded with brown. Spire: protoconch of at least two smooth, white whorls; teleoconch of five barely convex whorls; suture shallow and wide, the shoulder slope wide and descending steeply. Sculpture: surface smooth and glossy; axial sculpture of strong, projecting peripheral nodes which become obsolete on the last whorl. Aperture: broadly ovate, about one-third the length of the spire; outer lip thin at the edge, slightly thickened behind; sinus deep with a prominent parietal callus; siphonal canal short, straight, and with a shallow nota. Color: white with a broad brown band spiralling about the periphery of the last whorl and splashes of brown at the interspaces between the ribs and below the periphery of the last whorl.

C. nodifera was described from the Hawaiian Islands. Shells are occasionally found in beach drift and the animals appear to live at depths of about 20 m.