Shell solid, globose, smooth (only the protoconch is finely streaked), with a roundish aperture and a typical thickening of the umbilicus, which is present, however, in the adult specimens only. Indeed in the juvenile shells it can be noted a deep umbilicus with some solid spiral ribs, so that just on the basis of C. romettensis juvenile shells, Jeffreys (1883) described a new species: Cithna adamsi. The juvenile forms of this species are seldom separable by Skenea basistriata (Atlantic species), made exception for the protoconch sizes. The shell is white in colour, while the operculum solid is yellowish in colour. This species peculiarity is to withdraw the operculum inside the peristome just a little bit, only partially or at all, contrarily to the other Skeneidae. The average measures are a little bit more than 2 mm in diametre. In the past this shell was assigned to several genera among which: Oxystele, Turbo, Tharsis, Cyclostrema, Tharsiella.

Common all over the Mediterranean. It lives between 100 and 1000 m depth and over too. This species lives in a slimy and muddy bottom.