Testa ovata, fusiformi, -cornea, striis incrementi confertissimis capillaribus sculpta; anfractibus medio angulatis, in angulo nodosis; apertura ovata, intus laevi; cauda brevi recurva. Alt., 28"'; diam., 17'". (Philippi.)
Shell ovate, fusiform, horny, sculptured with very close capillary striae of growth. Whorls angulated in the middle, aperture ovate in angle of the nodes, within smooth with short recurved canal. (Translation.)
TYPE in? Type locality, Arctic.
RANGE. Arctic Ocean, Aleutian Islands, and Shumagin Islands, Alaska.

Type locality: western Barentz Sea, Svaldbard, Spitzbergen Island, "Mare glaciale ad insulam Spitzbergen". Description: Shell small for the genus (usually between 34 and 53 mm, occasionally up to 85.1 mm), thin but solid. Surface dull, colour pale brown. Base occasionally elongate, resulting in a biconical shape. Upper spire whorls angular, usually with 1 strong keel, occasionally with 2 spiral cords. Keel gradually becoming weaker, body whorl with some fine primary spiral cords, occasionally smooth. Interspaces smooth, occasionally with some fine secondary spiral cords. Range and habitat: Neptunea borealis lives in the Arctic Ocean, and is known from the Barentz Sea, Kara Sea and Laptev Sea. Bathymetric range between 8 and 195 m (Golikov, 1963: 174). Living on muddy and sandy-muddy bottoms. Collected sympatrically with Neptunea heros off western Nova Zembla. Form elongata was collected sympatrically with Buccinum angulosum J. E. Gray, 1839 at the type locality during the "Maud" expedition. The shell figured by Løyning (1932: 13, pl. 1, fig. 16) as "Neptunea satura var. ?, specimen no. 3" (locality not specified in the discussion but mentioned in the list of "Maud" stations as "sample 1015, (The same station and date)" refering to "sample 1013: Oct. 9, 1922, 72° 44' N, 179° 47' W, 68 m, Blue clay.", which is north of Wrangell Island, eastern limit of East Siberian Sea) has an identical spiral sculpture as his form elongata but a broader shape. That determination needs confirmation, but when it becomes ascertained that this particular shell belongs to Neptunea borealis, the range of the species has to be extended to the east. Some records from the northern Kara Sea and from the Laptev Sea need confirmation as there may be confusion with northern specimens (smaller and smoother) of Neptunea heros. Comparison: Neptunea borealis is the smallest Atlantic species in the genus, while Neptunea magnanimita n. sp. is the smallest Pacific one. The shell has a characteristic shape with angular upper whorls. Some specimens have a weaker spiral keel, eventually in combination with fine secondary spiral cords on the penultimate and body whorl. Shells with a double, but weaker, spiral keel are found sympatrically with the typical (strongly keeled) form. These shells are usually slenderer and Løyning (1932: 13) described them under the suitable name "var. elongata". A similar kind of variability (common form with 1 keel and occasionally a form with 2 weaker keels) is found in Neptunea heros, Neptunea polycostata polycostata and Neptunea polycostata aino Fraussen, Terryn & Conde n. subsp. Neptunea heros, which is a sympatric species in the northern and eastern Barentz Sea, is similar but can be distinguished by the broader shape and the much larger adult size. Neptunea multistriata, recorded formerly as Neptunea communis, is similar to the form with finer primary cords and present secondary spiral cords, but differs in having 2 primary spiral cords on the spire whorls, broad secondary spiral cords with a narrow groove as an interspace and a broader shape. The egg capsules of Neptunea multistriata have a similar sculpture but a slightly larger size.