C. vautieri has a brownish grey ground colour and reddish brown pattern; bands around last whorl underlaid with reddish brown; intermittent white dashes often pronounced also adapically; aperture white. At Hansa Bay (N. New Guinea), dorsum of foot ivory, suffused with cream and grey or sometimes with pink and green; median zone edged with pale tan dots on posterior half or completely dotted; anterior part bears a black central blotch with 2 backward- pointing lines of black dots, and its distal edge is occasionally white. Sole of foot ivory, washed with tan. Rostrum olive-grey or pale tan. Tentacles pale yellow. Siphon may be white, tipped with orange and washed with brown proximally on dorsal side, with a black half-ring anterior to centre, or siphon may match foot in colouration, with white dots distally and tan dots proximally. In Hawaii, foot and rostrum pale tan, mottled with yellowish to reddish brown; tip of siphon reddish orange, followed by pale buff and black bands (Kohn, 1959a).

Central Pacific. Hawaii to Marquesas Islands. French Polynesia.