Shell conical to capshaped, without marginal slit, apical hole or internal septum; apex near anterior margin; surface finely reticulated by the crossing of radial and concentric ridges. Orange-yellow. Animal white, without ctenidium, pallial gills or operculum. In general shape the shell is like that of Lepeta caeca but it is less conical and more capshaped, with the apex over the anterior margin, not eroded, and often retaining a small larval coil. The posterior profile is markedly convex, the anterior a little concave. The aperture is oval, with rather straight sides and rounded ends. Up to 7 mm long, 5 mm broad, 2.5 mm high.

I. fulva is a northern species known from Iceland, the Faeroes, Norway and the North Atlantic south to the Azores at increasing depths. In the British Isles it occurs on stony grounds at depths from 5 m to about 200 m, never intertidally. It has been found off Scilly, along the west coast of Ireland and Scotland, off the Northern Isles and from Yorkshire northwards in the North Sea. It is moderately common and is probably a detritivore.