The genus Cellana is diagnosed by elongation of both the inner and outer lateral teeth of the radula. Elongation in the outer lateral field masks the involvement of other distal outer lateral teeth in the formation of this complex although they are represented by small cusps along the outer surface of the teeth. In Cellana turbator from tropical north-eastern Australia, there is a small cusp on the outer edge of the inner lateral teeth as well. Whether this is a true bifid cusp or the remains of a fusion with a more distal inner lateral tooth is not known. Uncini vary between three and two although in this latter situation cuspless plates are present; the median fusion of the inner lateral teeth is vestigial. Cellana has crossed-lamellar shell structures inside the myostracum, but most of the shell is composed of foliated shell structures. The radula also obtains its maximum length relative to shell length, and the branchial cordon is complete over the head region. Source: Mollusca: The Southern Syntesis.

Powell:
Shell of similar shape to that of Patella but the interior is usually highly glazed and iridescent. The radula differs markedly from that of Patella but is very similar to that of Nacella. It consists of long recurved pairs of centrals, alternating with similarly-shaped pairs of laterals, usually with an incipient or vestigial median functionless central plate. The three marginals are very weak and functionless also. The whole radula is very much longer than in Patella, sometimes five times the length of the body when straightened out. It lies to the right side of the body where it forms a spiral of up to four double coils. A feature of the animal is the discontinuity of the gill cordon, which is interrupted by the head, unlike both Patella and Nacella in which the gill cordon is complete.

The genus is mainly confined to and widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific, ranging from Natal up the east coast of Africa to the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, then eastward along the Asiatic coasts to as far north as Japan, the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans to the Hawaiian Islands, Society Islands, Juan Fernandez, off the coast of Chile, Australia and New Zealand, including its subantarctic islands to as far south as Campbell Island.