The shell is small for the genus (maximum length 52 mm) and roughly clubshaped. The spire is high, consisting of one and one-half nuclear whorls and six barely subangulate or convex postnuclear whorls. The suture is weakly impressed. The body whorl is moderately large (two-thirds of the shell length, exclusive of the siphonal canal) and roughly fusoid. The aperture is moderate in size and ovate, with a moderately weak anal sulcus, this angled severely toward the parietal region of the shell. The outer apertural lip is erect and finely serrate, and is arched in such a way that the portion just posterior to the anterior end of the lip projects the most; the inner surface of the outer lip bears a series of spirally elongate denticles that decrease in size with anterior progress; the strongest of these, internal to the shoulder margin spine, is set off from the others by a notable space, the others being all evenly spaced. The columellar lip is detached and erect and bears five or more oblique and more or less irregularly oriented elongate pustules. At the posterior end of the outer lip, just posterior to the point at which the columellar lip becomes adherent to form a brief callus, is a moderately strong denticle, this recessed a short distance within the aperture and delimiting the anal sulcus parietally. The siphonal canal is of moderate length, straight, and narrowly open to the right.
The body whorl bears the three heavy, cord-like varices typical of the genus. Intervarical axial sculpture consists of two or three heavy, rounded, ropelike costae; the third costa, where present nearest the most recently formed varix, is generally narrower and less prominent than the other two. Spiral sculpture consists of numerous cords of at least two levels of prominence. There are 11 primary cords, one on the shoulder, seven on the body, and three on the canal. All of these except two on the canal terminate on the varix as short to moderately long, almost completely closed, slightly dorsally curved spines. Alternating with the primary cords are significantly less prominent secondary threads. All the spiral elements are weak between the axial elements but form prominent, sharpcrested nodes over the varices and the axial costae. The trailing edge of each varix is moderately deeply sulcate.
Shell color is white, with off-white nodes. A thin, flat-white frosting of intritacalx is apparent over the entire shell in specimens that have not been eroded. The nuclear whorls and early postnuclear whorls are pale horn-colored. The aperture is porcelaneous white.

Southwestern Caribbean, from Punta San Blas, Panama, to Gulf of Morrosquillo, Colombia.

It is interesting to note that this species, described as late as 1967, was found to be the commonest and most widespread shallow-water muricid along the coast of Panama and Colombia. A gap in its distribution, between Cabo de San Bias and Cabo Tiburon, may be more apparent than real, as the Continental Shelf there is so narrow and rough that sampling may not have been representative.