Shell up to 52 mm (about 2 inches) in length, elongate-ovate, solid, spire short, sutures prominently ledged and sculptured with coarse, irregular and upswept coronations. Whorls 5,5 – 6,5, apart from an eroded protoconch, spire whorls flat-sided or weakly convex and angulate at the sutures, sculptured with axially lirate spiral grooves which produce flat or slightly elevated and occasionally rounded spiral cords; cords number from 4-5 on the penultimate and from 16-18 on the body whorl. The whole surface is covered with slender, longitudinal riblets. Aperture longer than the spire, narrow and smooth within, outer lip descending almost vertically, thickened and bluntly undulate at the margin; columella calloused and with 4-5 moderately wide-spaced oblique folds, siphonal canal straight or slightly recurved, calloused and occasionally with a twist, siphonal notch deep. Base colour cream, ornamented with orange and burnt brown axial streaks which tend to form 2 broad transverse bands on the body whorl, coronations white, occasional grooves dark brown, whorls oc-casionally with milky-white spots; aperture and anterior of columella and folds creamy-yellow to light orange, parietal wall cream or white.

This is an uncommon but easily recognized species with coarsely coronate sutures, spiral cords and axial striae, and a colour pattern of yellow, orange, burnt-brown with milky-white spots.

Madagascar to the Ryukyus and the Fiji Islands. On reefs, under stones and coral, and on a sand substratum, from the intertidal zone to a depth of 8 fathoms.