Shell regularly elongate-conic, slender, light brown, with the whorls somewhat darker toward the summits; nucleus forming a conical spire with 4 smooth, white whorls set off from the following whorls by a sharp line; postnuclear whorls 8, slightly rounded, sutures impressed; spiral sculpture of 3 strong, nodulous cords, the posterior at the summit, the anterior a little above the suture and the median half way between the other 2, the posterior cord a little weaker than the others on all whorls; nodules somewhat spirally elongated without sharp truncation, 16 appearing on the first whorl, increasing to 20 on the penultimate whorl, the nodules connected by slender axial threads, those between the anterior and median cord being nearly vertical, while those between the median and posterior cords are strongly retractive ; the spaces enclosed by the axial threads and the anterior and median spiral cords form square pits and those between the median and posterior spiral cords form a parallelogram; periphery marked by a slender cord separated from the anterior cord by a space about as wide as that between the anterior and median cords and rendered slightly nodulous by the extensions of the axial threads; base very short, with an incised line encircling the columella and faint axial striae corresponding to the extensions of the axial threads; aperture subquadrate, strongly channeled anteriorly, outer lip thin, scalloped by the spiral cords, columella short, slightly curved. The type measures: length, 3.7 mm.,; diameter, 1.0 mm.

The pits between the spiral cords on the shell of this species are unequal rather than equal as on Cerithiopsis grippi Bartsch.