Shell small, adults reaching a height of about 25 mm; thin-shelled but solid; slightly taller than wide (h/w=U). Apex white. Teleoconch of 3 to 4 whorls, angulated. Sculpture consisting of spiral cords bearing weak nodules; with two peripheral rows of relatively short, hollow spines, most prominent at the shoulder. Suture slightly impressed. Columella smooth and evenly curved, base of columella thickened; aperture round. Umbilicus closed. Basic color whitish to pinkish cream, rarely orange or scarlet red, with bright scarlet red to red-brown axial flames (whitish flames in orange or red specimens). Flames usually edged with black posteriorly, suture more or less stained with that color. Flame pattern best visible on the subsutural ramp. Operculum thick, round, slightly granulose, with a very shallow central depression; white.

Daros Island ; Philippine Islands (Cuming).
This beautiful species is well characterized by its style of painting. It is whitish with broad scarlet rays, particularly distinct on the sloping upper surfaces of the whorls ; these are sometimes edged with black posteriorly, and the suture is more or less stained with that colour. The lower part of the body-whorl is for the most part scarlet with a few narrow white streaks (sometimes black-spotted) radiating from the umbilical region. The operculum is white, thick, convex, and granose externally.

Turbo debesi from Western Australia superficially resembles Turbo tursicus but differs in having a spirally built operculum, larger spines on the shoulder and rough scales on the spiral cords instead of weak nodules as in tursicus. The bright color pattern of Turbo tursicus, particularly the black-edged flame pattern, seems unique and makes it an easy to identify species.

In 2001 Somwang Patamakanthin described a small tursicus-like turbinid from the area between Phuket Island and the Racha Islands, Andaman Sea, Thailand as Turbo somnueki. It differs from typical tursicus in reaching a smaller adult size (about 20 mm), and in having scales on the spiral cords instead of nodules like tursicus. The operculum is identical to that of tursicus and so is the general shape of the shell. From the material of somnueki that the authors had available for study, they tend to the opinion that somnueki represents only a variant of Turbo tursicus and thus this name should be treated as a synonym of tursicus.

Western Indian Ocean, East Africa to Amirante Islands and to Thailand (possibly much more
widespread)