Habitat: it lives in the littoral zone on sandy and muddy bottoms. It is found even at 50 m depth. Distribution: common enough all over the Mediterranean. It is present in the Black Sea too. Notes: the main characteristic of this species, that makes it recognizable from its similar ones, is the sculpture, present on the right valve only, made by little lines concentric, oblique, very thin, starting from the right upper side and finishing in the left lower margin of the valve. The right valve is a little bit more convex than the left one. Shell brittle, semitransparent, beaked posteriorly, anterior side roundish, umbo placed almost centrally, ventral margin not much convex.
Periostracum transparent, bright. Posterior ligament extending for one third of the upper margin length. Internal margin smooth. Tellina fabuloides (Monterosato, 1884), for a long time considered as the Mediterranean form of this species due to the smaller sizes and to the less beaked aspect only, is quoted rightly from CLEMAM as synonym of T. fabula. During its several growth stages, this species does not change its outline very much. The adult specimens average measures are around 12-15 mm in length.