The length of the shell varies between 10 mm and 25 mm.
The shell is ovate and ventricose. The pointed
spire is composed of six or seven
whorls. These are slightly angular at their upper part, loaded with very convex longitudinal folds near the suture. These folds are less prominent, and more flattened upon the outer
lip of the
body whorl. It is intersected by numerous transverse striae. The upper extremity of the fold is sometimes separated by a stria which divides them superficially. The white
aperture is ovate, terminated above by an emargination of the outer lip, and by a transverse ridge of the inner lip. The outer lip is thin, slightly denticulated at the base, furnished with numerous striae; internally. The
columella is arcuated, covered by the inner lip, which conceals, by its expansion, a part of the body of the shell, and forms a large, white, and polished callosity. The ground color of this shell is whitish, ash or bluish, sometimes without spots or bands, at other times with two or three deeper bands which surround the whorls.[2]
Bruguière, J.G. 1789. Buccinum. Encyclopédie Méthodique ou par de matieres. Historie Naturelle des Vers et Mollusques 1: 236–285
Adams, A. 1852. Catalogue of the species of Nassa, a genus of Gasteropodous Mollusca, belonging to the family Buccinidae, in the Collection of Hugh Cuming, Esq., with the description of some new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1851(19): 94–112
Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). Mollusques testacés marins de Madagascar. Faune des Colonies Francaises, Tome III
Satyamurti, S.T. 1952. Mollusca of Krusadai Is. I. Amphineura and Gastropoda. Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum, Natural History ns 1(no. 2, pt 6): 267 pp., 34 pls
Spry, J.F. (1961). The sea shells of Dar es Salaam: Gastropods. Tanganyika Notes and Records 56