The shell is moderately large for the genus (maximum length 45 mm) and fusiform. The spire is high and acute, consisting of one and one-half nuclear whorls and six angulate postnuclear whorls. The suture is weakly impressed. The body whorl is moderately long and slender. The aperture is moderately small and ovate, with a wide, moderately shallow anal sulcus. The outer apertural lip is erect and coarsely dentate; its inner surface bears seven prominent denticles, the uppermost one more prominent than the rest. The columellar lip is adherent above, detached and erect below; the lower end of the columella may bear a single weak denticle. The siphonal canal is moderately long and dorsally recurved.
The body whorl bears six or seven spinose varices. The entire surface of the shell is squamately lamellose, the leading edges of the varices most strongly so. Spiral sculpture consists of numerous major and minor cords: minor cords on the shoulder, a single major cord at the shoulder margin, and three evenly spaced major cords and intercalary minor cords on the body. A large, spine-free gap at the anterior end of the body is followed on the canal by two major cords and a single intercalary minor one. Where the cords intersect the varices, low, sharp, closed, and ventrally grooved spines are developed.
Shell color is cream to fleshy pink; the varices, in some specimens, are stained brown. The aperture is white to pale creamy yellow.
Southern Florida to the southern Caribbean.