Gofas:
Shell conical, solid, as high as broad or slightly higher than broad, to 14.0 mm high x 13.8 mm broad. Protoconch as in genus. Teleoconch up to 7-8 whorls. Spire sculptured with beaded spiral cords as wide as interspaces, and with rim running beneath suture and continued on peripheral angle of last whorl: beads aligned transversely in oblique rows parallel to growth lines; peripheral rim also somewhat beaded and covered by several (usually 3-4, up to 10 on large specimens) smaller spiral threads. First teleoconch whorl with three spiral cords and a fine subsutural thread, number of spirals later increased by inter-calation of additional cords to 5-8 on last whorl. Profile of first teleoconch whorl convex, rapidly becoming flat; shell profile either regularly continued from one whorl to another, or slightly offset inwards from the conical shape; last whorl definitely set off inwards in most cases. Abapical surface flat, bearing 6- 10 spiral cords as wide as or narrower than interspaces, more weakly beaded than spire cords. Axis imperforate, covered by columellar callus. Aperture as in genus. Shell colour whitish to yellowish, nacre showing through in some cases; broad brown flames starting from suture: peripheral rim white articulated by brown streaks; abapical surface usually paler, but with cords often articulated by smaller brown flecks.
Animal as in genus. Cephalic tentacles elongate, tapering, with brown line running on their upper surface; cephalic lappets, eye stalks and neck lobes colourless. Sides of foot with vertical brown streaks. Epipodial tentacles thin and tapering, colourless. Small papilla at base of each epipodial tentacle and of each neck lobe.

Scaperotta et al.:
Shell quite conic in outline, whorls flat and base flat. Umbilicus missing, columella not much arched, aperture quadrangular, lip sharp. Typical sculpture made by several spiral little cords intersected with striae oblique, lamellated giving a granulous aspect to the whole surface. Over the suture there is one cord, more or less prominent, roundish, made by one up to three rows of granulations. This cord gives an angular outline to the periphery of the last whorl. Numerous cords concentric, smooth are present at the base. Colour pattern uniform enough: on a grey-yellowish ground there are flammulae brown in colour. There are some pits brown-reddish in colour on the over-sutural and basal cords too. This sculpture and this colour pattern are evident also in the juvenile specimens. The adult specimens average measures are around 10 mm in height.

Diagnostic characters
Shell a sharply pointed, nearly regular cone, about as broad as high, with fiat sides and nearly flat base; last whorl sharply keeled by enlarged spiral band, repeated above each suture in the spire; 5-6 spiral ridges lie between this band and the suture on the last whorl and also on each whorl of the spire; all spiral ridges nodose.
Other characters
There are 7-8 whorls. In addition to the spiral ridges the shell has many prosocline growth lines which contribute to the tubercles on the ridges and form small elevations in the grooves between. The apertural plane is more oblique (prosocline) to the shell axis than in other species. The columella leans to the left, its tooth very slight. White or pinkish, refringent, with a pink apex and often with brownish pink spots on the spiral ridges. Up to 12mm high, 11mm broad; last whorl occupies 50-55% of shell height, aperture about 30%.
The animal is like that of Jujubinus species. The lip. however, is not split mid-ventrally, the cephalic lappets are papillated marginally and linked to the eye stalks ventral to the tentacle base, that on the right joined in turn to the neck lobe; the foot is rather narrow, bearing on each side-three epipodial tentacles with associated sense organs. The flesh is cream with brown marks on the side of the foot, some olive-green colour on the dorsal surface of the snout, a dark Y-shaped mark between the tentacle bases, and one or more dark lines along all tentacles.
This species is always sublittoral, living on stony and gravelly bottoms 35-800m deep. It is not rare. The animals live between the Mediterranean and northern Norway and they have been found off all British and Irish coasts except those of the eastern Channel and southern North Sea.

Due to its typical sculpture and to its outline, this species is quite recognizable compared with the other Mediterranean Trochidae. Only Clelandella myriamae Gofas, 2005. species collected on muddy bottoms in the context of volcanoes in deep waters of the Eastern Mediterranean, is very similar to C. miliaris. Mainly it is distinguishable due to the spiral cords non granulous, to the abapical zone having more cords and to a small umbilical slit always present.

This species was originally described as a fossil from northern Italy, where it is quite rare in Pliocene strata. A specimen was qualified as the holotype and figured by Rossi-Ronchetti (1955), which amounts to a lectotype designation following article 74.6 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The Recent Mediterranean specimens attributed to Clelandella miliaris are not different from the Pliocene fossils, neither in colour pattern (preserved in some specimens) nor in sculpture. Trochus millegranus Philippi, 1836 was described from Plio-Pleistocene deposits and also agrees with the current concept of C. miliaris, although it is somewhat stouter and one-third larger. Some North Atlantic specimens differ in being paler in colour, with the nacreous layer showing through, and have been known by British authors under the name Trochus clelandi. The animal of C. miliaris was reported by Cretella el al. (1990) to have a double papilla below the third epipodial tentacle, but this was not recorded on the material examined here.
Some specimens found in West Africa have a different shell profile, that is broader, at first slightly concave, then rather convex as the later whorls become slightly constricted; they also have a more blunt periphery without a distinct rim on large specimens. The colour is also distinct, with reddish tones being predominant over brown. The specimens from Cote d'Ivoire tend to be umbilicated but otherwise do not differ from those collected in Senegal. However, specimens with typical shell morphology of C. miliaris were also found in Senegal, and many of the examined specimens show intermediate features. The material at hand is not sufficient to assess if this is geographic variation or if an additional species is involved.

Range: Atlantic Ocean, northwards to Iceland {Oskarsson, 1982, and A. Waren, personal communication), the Faeroes (Sparck & Thorson, 1933, and material in SMXH, A. Waren, personal communication) and to 69°N in Norway (Hoisaeter, 1986); southwards to West Africa (see discussion below), and throughout the Mediterranean, usually in 100-300 m depth.

Distribution: mainly it can be found in the South-West of the Mediterranean. Never common.
Habitat: it lives in the infralittoral and circalittoral zones, into detrital sediments, in remarkable depths too.