Shell with a prominent pointed apex, but generally depressed, pearly, with a pale greenish epidermis and six whorls; nucleus glassy, polished, swollen, and slightly tilted; spiral sculpture on the spire of three sharp narrow elevated threads, a finely granular or almost smooth peripheral keel or thread on which the suture runs; on the base three similar less prominent threads, on the anterior of which the pillar lip revolves around the umbilicus, and lastly a very sharp keel, with many strong, sharp nodules, carinating the umbilicus; transverse sculpture on the spire of numerous sharp, elevated, narrow radii, which reach the second spiral counting forward from the suture nodulating both; some of the radii appear to reach the third spiral, but most of them do not, and the nodulations on the third usually alternate with those on the second thread; the nodules are small and pyramidal, the rectangles formed by the reticulations are flattened; beside the primary radii numerous smaller ones start from the suture between the primaries, but rarely extend beyond the first spiral, except on the last whorl, where they disappear toward the periphery; these secondaries are elevated and sublamellose, very regularly spaced, and reappear on the base within the two anterior spirals, then overrun the carina and ascend the umbilicus in a vertical direction ; whorls full and rounded, except as modified by the sculpture; surface polished; suture deep but not channeled; apical part of the spire rather pointed; base full, angulated at the umbilicus, which is large and deep, with nearly vertical, scalar sides; aperture wide, outer lip rounded, thin, sharp; base angulated by the umbilical carina, strictly continuous with the pillar and outer lip; pillar thin, sharp, not reflected, a little concave above the middle, not anywhere thickened; body without callus; maximum diameter of shell, 9mm, minimum diameter, 7.25 mm; altitude, 7.25 mm.

Shell attaining a height of 9 mm, thin, inflated, spire depressed, umbilicate, of 5-6 whorls, highly nacreous when fresh, otherwise white. Protoconch small, glassy, protuberant, of about 1,5 whorls. Whorls of the spire with 3 fine, sharp spiral threads; the upper is very fine and very close to the suture; the second is often the strongest and placed just above mid-whorl; the third may be as strong as the second and is just above the succeeding suture. A fourth spiral, hidden by the suture on the spire, forms the periphery of the last whorl. Spiral sculpture is crossed at regular intervals by axial ribs which are of the same character as the spirals. Axials are continuous on the first 3 whorls, forming a reticulate pattern with the spirals; otherwise, the axials are restricted to sharp, close-set plications radiating a short distance from the suture and likewise from the umbilicus. The beading of the upper 2 spirals is coarsest, with the beading becoming much finer on the lower spirals. Base tumid, usually with 3 rather weak, beaded spiral cords between the periphery and a strongly tubercled inner cord which bounds the umbilicus. Umbilicus wide, deep, walls nearly vertical with axial corrugations. Aperture rounded; outer lip thin, simple; inner lip thin, very slightly reflected; columella straight, thin, with a weak to strong tooth at the middle in mature specimens. Periostracum thin, olive-brown.

This is nearest to Solariella aegleis Watson, which is more conical and has a different sculpture, and especially a much more funicular umbilicus. Calliotropis actinophora is a larger shell than Solariella aegleis, and attains larger dimensions than are here given, judging from fragments among the dredgings.

C. actinophora has been rather rare in most collections, and has been overlooked in the literature to a great extent. Since its description in 1890, it has been cited only in the semi-technical book American Sea-shells (Abbott, 1974). However, the various ships from RSMAS have taken this species throughout the Caribbean area. It is closely related to C. infundibulum (Watson, 1879), a much larger, more elevated species which is also found in the Western Atlantic. C. actinophora was taken by the ALBATROSS at station 2764 off the Rio de la Plata in 11 % fathoms (21 m). I am very reluctant to accept the depth here since actinophora is rarely taken in depths much shallower than 1000 m, and other species collected at this station occur normally at great depths themselves (e.g., Seguenzia trispinosa Watson, 1879).

South of St. Kitts, in 687 fathoms, east from Tobago, in 880 fathoms; 90 miles north of Ceara, in 1,019 fathoms, broken coral; It has also been found at Guadalupe in 769 fathoms, sand.

Geographic distribution: The Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas and the Straits of Florida, south through the Antillean arc, and South America from Tobago to the Rio de la Plata, Argentina.
Bathymetric range: This species has a possible depth range of 21 to 1863 m, but is generally rather rare in depths less than 1000 m, and rather common between 1000 and 1500 m.