The shell of Hexaplex, as typified by H. cichoreum, is solid and globose, with five to eight more or less foliaceous varices. The spire is moderate in height and the aperture is subcircular. The siphonal canal is moderately broad. Shell color generally consists of three darker bands on the body, although adult specimens may lack these.
The type species of Hexaplex strongly resembles many Chicoreus species, except for its larger number of varices. The radula also substantially resembles that found in Chicoreus. Future work may determine that these two groups should be united under the earliest available name, Chicoreus Montfort, 1810.

Shell from 33 to 200 mm in length at maturity. Average length of 70-120 mm. Last teleoconch whorl with 4-8 spinose varices. Spines narrowly open, short, sharp or blunt. Aperture roundly-ovate, broad. Outer lip crenulate. Columellar lip narrow, smooth, partially adherent adapically, erect abapically. Siphonal canal short to moderately long, open, weakly spinose or smooth. From my observations, and from several papers (Vermeij, 1998; Vermeij & Houart, 1996; Vermeij & Kool, 1994), I realized that the labral tooth is a very important tool in the classification of the Muricidae, also in the subfamily Muricinae in which Hexaplex is included. The type species of Hexaplex bears a labral tooth, however, many Recent species, and all the fossil species usually included in Hexaplex, including H. trunculus, lack the labral tooth.
In Hexaplex cichoreum type species of Hexaplex, the edge of the outer lip is ornamented with five pairs of denticles. The second denticle of the third abapical pair, situated between the third and fourth varical spine, is weakly or strongly extended, and forms the labral spine. That pair of denticles is occasionally fused into a single, broad, labral spine. It is interesting to note that the second denticle is usually slightly larger in the first and second abapical pairs of denticles. This kind of labral tooth is identical in Chicoreus s.s. Five species, here included in Hexaplex have a similar labral tooth: H. angularis, H. bozzadamii, H. conatus, H. kuesterianus and H. stainforthi. The labral tooth in H. stainforthi is formed by the second denticle of the fourth pair of denticles. It is shorter than in H. cichoreum. In H. angularis all denticles are usually similar in size, although the second denticle of the third abapical pair is occasionally slightly more extended. In H. ambiguus, H. nigritus and H. radix the development of the labral spine is quite dif¬ferent: there are two pairs of abapical denticles, then a group of three more extended den¬ticles of which the central one is the largest, forming the labral tooth. They are followed by 2 other pairs of denticles. The first and second pair of denticles are occasionally fused and then form two single denticles. In my opinion, this different development of labral spine, together with some other differences in shell morphology, excludes these three species from Hexaplex to form a genus (Muricanthus) of their own.
In H. bifasciatus, brassica, duplex, rosarium and trunculus, the apertural pairs of denticles are more broadly spaced than in other "true" Hexaplex species. The second abapical pair of denticles is slightly more extended. The third pair is the largest, and the fourth is slightly shorter, all together forming an arc, but there is no trace of any labral tooth. They probably all belong to Trunculariopsis, as a subgenus of Hexaplex. Neither H. fulvescens, H. princeps nor H. varius have a labral tooth, and because of the similar shell morphology, they are here included in Trunculariopsis. The radula of all these species are quite similar.