The dorsum surface is very smooth and shiny, the basic color is blue-gray, white or light tan, with large irregular dark brown dorsal blotches.

In the living cowry the mantle is transparent with white long tree-shaped sensorial papillae and can be completely retracted into the shell.

This species and its subspecies can be found in the seas along Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, in the Indian Ocean and in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean in the Kwajalein Atoll, New Caledonia, Guam, Samoa Islands and the Marshall Islands, Melanesia and along Vietnam, Taiwan, Australia, Sulu Sea, Samar Island and Philippines.

These cowries mainly live in tropical intertidal and subtidal zone on coral reefs up to 30 metres (98 ft) of depth.

During the day they are usually hidden under rocks and in crevices, as only at dusk they start feeding on sponges or algae.