Moderately small to moderately large (30-81 mm) , moderately solid to moderately heavy. Last whorl conical to broadly conical; outline almost straight, somewhat convex at adapical fourth. Shoulder angulate, strongly to weakly tuberculate; tubercles occasionally obsolete. Spire of low to moderate height, outline straight to slightly concave. Larval shell of about 4 whorls. Postnuclear spire whorls tuberculate. Teleoconch sutural ramps flat, with 2 increasing to 4 spiral grooves. Last whorl with often variably granulose spiral ribs above base, sometimes to centre. Last whorl light olive or yellowish brown with narrow white spiral bands at centre and below shoulder that may be suffused with bluish grey or rose. Base dark purple. Apex usually pink; larval shell yellow (Hawaii; Perron, 1981a). Late spire whorls and shoulder white, occasionally suffused with bluish grey or pale orangish violet. Aperture deep purple-violet behind a narrow orange-brown margin, with pale bands at centre and below shoulder.
Periostracum yellow-olive to greyish brown, moderately thick, translucent to opaque, with fine axial ridges and sometimes also with close-set spiral rows of tufts on last whorl. Foot violet to brownish red, sometimes dark olive; mottled with dark brown to black and dotted with white; a darker sole may contrast with a light dorsum. White dots occasionally absent; black mottling may be so dense to produce a completely black appearance. On dorsum, black spots sometimes concentrated in a broad pre-marginal band, setting off an immaculate median zone from a narrow immaculate marginal zone; sole occasionally also with immaculate margins. Rostrum and tentacles red to dark purple, often mottled with black and dotted with white; white dots may be closely set at tip of tentacles. Siphon purple to dark red or dark olive, variably spotted or mottled with black, dotted with white; white dots variable in number, sometimes absent; black mottling often so dense as to produce a solid black siphon narrowly edged with red. Radular teeth slender, with an adapical barb opposite a very weak blade; a group of small cusps just behind the barb and one prominent cusp 2/3 the length down the shaft; base with a distinct spur.

C. lividus is very similar to C. sanguinolentus. They have often been synonymized, and their relationship remains somewhat uncertain. For comparison of C. lividus with C. sanguinolentus and C. moreleti, see the Discussions of those species.

Range: Entire Indo-Pacific. Infrequently intertidal, common on subtidal coral reef platforms. C. lividus occupies diverse microhabitats: sand patches and pockets, coral rubble with and without sand, reef limestone with algal turf, bare reef limestone, dead coral heads, and beach rock. C. lividus feeds on polychaetes of the sedentary families Terebellidae and Maldanidae and the errant Nereidae and Eunicidae as well as on enteropneusts