The shell is moderately large (maximum length 85 mm) and pyriform. Its spire is moderately high, with three nuclear whorls and five to seven sharply shouldered postnuclear whorls. The suture is deeply impressed and somewhat undulate. The body whorl is large (two-thirds of total shell length) and massive, about half as broad as long. The aperture is subovate, with a weakly to mod-erately well-developed anal sulcus posteriorly and a broad opening anteriorly into the siphonal canal. The outer apertural lip is somewhat thickened by the development of two to five thin, densely packed lamellae; the inner surface of the lip bears 12 to 16 strong, closely spaced denticles, and from this line of denticles to the edge of the lip it is slightly undulate and flares outward. The columellar lip is entirely adherent. The short siphonal canal is broadly open; to the left of the canal is a ridge bearing the vestiges of former canals.
The body whorl bears six or seven sharp, lamellose varices, flaring posteriorly to touch the preceding whorl at about its midpoint. Intervarical spaces are generally devoid of prominent axial sculpture. Spiral sculpture generally consists solely of a prominent shoulder keel. In addition, a microsculpture, most strongly developed over the varices, imparts to the entire surface of the shell a finely malleated appearance. In some specimens there is a diffuse or discontinuous spiral band of stronger microsculpture a short distance below the shoulder keel.
Shell color is light to dark brown, with four or five darker spiral bands: two on the shoulder, one on the shoulder margin, and two broader ones below the shoulder. The interior of the aperture is white, and the rim is burnt orange.
Isla Cedros, Mexico, and the southern Gulf of California to Panama and the Galapagos Islands.