The shell is large for the genus (maximum length 35 mm) and stoutly fusiform. The spire is high, consisting of two and three-fourths convex nuclear whorls and six or seven postnuclear whorls. The suture is distinct but not impressed. The body whorl is large and globosely fusoid. The aperture is moderately small and ovate, with a shallow, moderately narrow anal sulcus. The outer apertural lip is strongly erect and coarsely, marginally dentate; its inner surface bears deep grooves, these reflecting the lip-margin dentition and, ultimately, the spiral sculpture of the shell. The columellar lip is briefly adherent at its extreme upper end, detached and erect for most of its length. The siphonal canal is moderately long, barely open to the right, and dorsally recurved.
The body whorl bears six or seven prickly varices. Intervarical axial sculpture is lacking. Spiral sculpture consists of six primary cords on the body: one above the shoulder margin, one at the shoulder, and four below it. Between the body and the canal, a brief gap in prominent spiral sculpture is marked by a reduction in the prominence of the varices and by a weak tertiary cord. The canal bears three secondary cords, alternating with tertiaries. Where the spiral elements intersect the varices, short, prickly, partially open, weakly recurved spines are developed. Ventral to each primary body spine, two or three low, scalelike spinclets are developed, these extending almost to the margin of the outer apertural lip.
Shell color is white to cream-colored, with three interrupted transverse brown-black bands, one on the shoulder, one medial on the body, and one between the body and the canal. The aperture is white.

Bahia Magdalena, Baja California, and the Gulf of California to Guayaquil, Ecuador.