The shell is of moderate size (maximum length 55 mm) and fusiform. Its spire is high, with seven weakly shouldered postnuclear whorls and a protoconch of undetermined nature. The suture is shallow and weakly defined. The body whorl is proportionately large and slender. The aperture is small and ovate, with no discernible anal sulcus and a marked constriction immediately above the entrance to the siphonal canal. The outer apertural lip is erect, with a crenulate margin, and bears five to nine strong denticles on its inner surface. The columellar lip is weakly erect posteriorly, more so anteriorly, with three to five denticles immediately above the canal. The siphonal canal is moderately long, narrowly open, and generally straight; vestiges of former canals ornament the region to the left of the canal.
The body whorl bears three winglike varices, these greatly expanded in the shoulder region and for a short distance anteriorly. From the posterior end of the canal to its tip, the varix diminishes in width. On the spire axial sculpture consists of eight low costae of equal prominence, these representing the three varices and one or two intervarical nodes between each two varices. Spiral sculpture on the body whorl consists of several cords, the strongest about midway on the whorl. The shell is scabrous, owing to the presence of strong, crowded lamellae over the entire surface, these thrown into a series of axially aligned folds or ruffles.
Shell color is generally white. The interior of the aperture and canal is pinkish-violet.

Intertidal to subtidal, generally throughout the entire Indo-West Pacific.