Shell up to 14 mm (about 1/2 inch) in length, fusiformly-elongate, adult specimens moderately solid, immature specimens thin and often pellucid, sutures distinct but very narrow and sharply incised, spire acuminate. Whorls 5-6, apart from a protoconch of 3-3,5 cylindrical, smooth, white or light fawn nuclear whorls, spire whorls regularly convex or almost flat-sided, sculptured with very fine spiral and longitudinal striae of about equal strength to the antepenultimate whorl, and then the spiral striae retain their strength while the axial striae frequently become weak or obsolete on the last 3 whorls; spiral striae number from 6-13 on the penultimate and from 20-30 on the body whorl, striae usually gain in strength towards the base where they appear as fine basal cords. Aperture about equal in height to the spire, narrow and smooth within, outer lip thickened in adults and slightly constricted and calloused within, smooth at the margin, immature specimens with a weak outer lip which lacks the callus. Columella calloused in mature specimens, and with 3-5 oblique folds, siphonal canal moderately short and straight, siphonal notch distinct. White in colour, usually ornamented with a single and moderately broad, orange-brown band on the spire whorls and 1 or 2 bands on the body whorl; some individuals have a single band on the body whorl and none on the spire whorls, while other specimens are uniformly white or flushed with light orange-brown. The aperture and columella are white, and occasionally show a faint orange-brown tint.

This is one of the smallest and most widely distributed and rare mitrid, which is tentatively placed in the subgenus Strigatella on the basis of the presence of the interior callosity of the outer lip in adult specimens. The species is variable in colour and consequently has received numerous names; specimens are white and usually banded with orange-brown, some specimens having 1 band on the spire whorls and 1 or 2 bands on the body whorl. Some individuals, however, are banded only on the body whorl, while others lack the bands and are either flushed with orange-brown or are white. The bandless colour-forms were described as M. tenuis Sowerby, M. flexilabris Sowerby, and M. saltata Pease, while the uniformly white colour form is the M. alba Pease.

Red Sea to Polynesia and the Hawaiian Islands. On reefs, among sand and coral rubble, from the intertidal zone to a depth of 18 fathoms.