Spire moderately high, angle usually 50-60°. Shell width approximately half shell length. Aperture only slightly longer than spire. Periphery of body whorl situated slightly closer to base of shell than to apex. Sculptured by numerous, weak, spiral ridges, often occurring in pairs on lower half of body whorl, sometimes with only an incised groove separating paired ribs when they lie side by side. Only the early whorls cancellate, and then weakly so. Whorls slightly depressed below suture; profile of upper whorls straight. Aperture usually plicate internally. Pale brown parietal scar usually present, sometimes absent. Periostracum thin, fibrous, brownish-yellow. Shell colour orange-brown to reddish-brown; upper whorls with alternating dark (same colour as the shell) and pale yellowish-brown dashes, giving an axially striped appearance; the body whorl has no axial stripes but the spiral threads between the ridges are usually paler, especially on lower half of body whorl. Aperture white to light mauve-brown. Live specimens are covered by a bryozoan, possibly Alcyonidium nodosum. Proboscis flesh coloured. Maximum shell length 47 mm.
Description of holotype: Sculptured by numerous weak spiral ridges which occur in pairs. Top whorls weakly cancellate. Depression below the suture moderate. Outer lip thin, aperture plicate internally. Parietal scar absent- Periostracum thin fibrous yellowish-brown, present only on lower half of body whorl. Shell orange-brown, with pale brown to whitish spiral bands between ridges. Upper whorls with alternating pale yellowish-brown and orange brown dashes, with the latter aligning to give a streaky appearance. Aperture pale mauve-brown.
Dimensions: Shell length 35.5 mm; shell width 18.2 mm; aperture length 21.2 mm; aperture width 8.6 mm; spire length 17.8 mm.

This species occurs subtidally in boulder-strewn habitats, and is very rare. As in the case of both B. papyracea and B. pubescens, the shell is covered by a bryozoan which must be removed from living specimens before they can be identified. It was originally confused with B. pubescens due to the presence of the weakly cancellate spire, but they were found to be genetically distinct (Dempster 1995a). Referral back to the shells of specimens used for electrophoresis revealed that there were also morphological differences between these two species, which have been noted above under the comments on B. pubescens. The differences between B. denseliriata and B. papyracea have also been discussed above under the latter species.

South-Africa. Known only from False Bay.