Shell solid, fusiform , spire high and sharp, upper part orthoconic, lower cyrtoconic, protoconch missing, teleoconch consisting of six convex whorls. Suture incised, aperture high, about half total length, narrow, almond-shaped, siphonal canal short, slightly bent to the left, anal sulcus deep. External lip thickened by a varix, with a sharp edge, internal side smooth or weakly wrinkled. Parietal callus normally developed; sculpture finely beaded, consisting of dense spiral threads and weaker axial ribs. Spiral sculpture stronger on anterior end. About sixty spiral threads on the body whorl and siphonal canal, twenty-four on the penultimate whorl, twenty on the preceeding one; scupture of early whorls hardly visible due to erosion. Ground colour beige-cream, whitish at the top of the spire, with bands of large, axially oblong, reddish-brown blotches. Distribution of bands as follows : none on the early three whorls, one subsuturally positioned and one half-covered by the subsequent whorl in the fourth whorl, two in the penultimate whorl and three in the body whorl. Corresponding blotches of two close bands are often joined by finer flammules of the same colour. Lowest band on the body whorl half wide compared to the upper ones. In the siphonal area a darker band, continuous on dorsum side, interrupted on aperture side. Peristome whitish or yellowish, inside of the mouth cream-coloured.

Metula somalica, superficially resembles a dwarf M. boswellae, being three times shorter, but comparison should be made with similar sized species of Indo - Pacific distribution; the new species, compared with its closest ally, M. daphnelloides Melvill & Standen, 1903, has a lower spire, a stronger outer lip, a deeper anal sulcus, more inflated whorls, siphonal canal narrower and shorter, a weaker parietal callus and a larger size. M. hindsii, H. & A. Adams, 1858, has a slender spire, a narrower mouth and less inflated whorls. M. metula (Hinds, 1844) has a slender spire and a stronger axial sculpture. Moreover, an important and distinctive character is the lack of teeth on the outer lip in M. somalica.

Type locality
All specimens have been trawled off Ras Hafun, Northeastern Somalia, on sandy bottoms at 200-250 metres depth.