Shell white with dull surface; globose, with large aperture. Protoconch (corroded on most shells) multispiral (Bouchet & Waren 1985: 260). Spire short, with up to three whorls. Axial sculpture of 12 rounded ribs; spiral sculpture of three weak spiral lines, with strong to pointed nodules when crossing the axials. Last whorl 86% of total shell height. No umbilicus. Aperture ovate; outer lip smooth within; columellar callus white. Columellar fold broad; one blunt fold at rim of siphonal canal. The animal has no radula (Bouchet & Waren 1985:260).

Western Atlantic: from about 42°N, off Nantucket, Massachusetts, to 31°N, 1460-1950 m; off Fernandina, Florida, 678 m (Dall 1927); Eastern Atlantic: off NW Ireland (57°N), 1991 m; Bay of Biscay, 2170 m; off Mauritania (19°N), 1600-1900 m.

The occurrence of this species off NW Ireland, originally based on one very juvenile shell (2.2 x 1.7 mm, Bouchet & Waren 1985), is now confirmed by a specimen of 11.1 x 8.6 mm (NMSZ 1994128-13001) (Verhecken 2002: 512, fig. 7), but with eroded protoconch. Also in material from the Bay of Biscay the protoconchs are completely eroded. The protoconch type was identified as multispiral (2 3/4 whorls, max. diameter 1.4 mm), based on the juvenile shell (Rockall Trough, INCAL 1976 stn DS5, 56°28'N, 11°12'W, 2503 m, MNHN), identified in 1985 by a process of elimination (AV). More recent data (Verhecken 2002: 510-512) now show that also B. azorica has a protoconch of the same type and dimensions, thus casting some doubt on that identification.