It is very similar in appearance to the closely related buttercup lucine (Anodontia alba) which occupies the same range as it in the Caribbean area.

The chalky buttercup can be distinguished by the fact that the interior of the valves are white rather than yellow and that the scars formed by the anterior adductor muscles slope at an angle of 30° to the pallial line.

[6] These can oxidise methane and hydrogen sulphide, both of which are found in the low-oxygen, silty sand and mud in which this mollusc burrows.

The chalky buttercup uses the energy produced by the bacteria and this enables it to live in an environment that would otherwise be too low in food particles.

A similar mutually beneficial arrangement is found among deep-water clams which harbour bacteria that flourish beside the thermal vents where the molluscs live.