Shell thin, height 30-37 mm; ground color white or iridescent silvery-white; periostracum semitransparent gray-brown; whorls convex; spiral beaded cords usually present on early teleoconch; whorls with spiral cords/threads beaded/unbeaded, becoming frequent/obsolete on later whorls; columella and scar white.
Remarks. The status of Akoya has fluctuated. It is treated here as a genus, acknowledging a wide-ranging group of deep-water white shells with the general conformation of both Calliostoma and Otukaia characteristics. At the moment, the lineage of deep-water white shells is elusive. As methods of genetic evaluation become both more sophisticated and comprehensive our understanding of clades may definitively address evolutionary trends and better define genera. Ikebe (1942) was the author of a journal article in which Kuroda described Calliostoma akoya. As such, Ikebe is the author of the publication while Kuroda in Ikebe is the taxon authority.