The shell of the snail is distinctively large, spiny, and club-shaped, usually pale brown or tan in colour, with an elongated and straight siphonal canal.

[2][3] Bolinus cornutus is protected by a large, thick, spiny shell, club-shaped and with a broad body whorl.

Short spines also spiral off the long, straight siphonal canal of the shell, which is narrowly open along its length.

The buff or tan shell colour is interrupted on the body whorl by three darker brown spiral bands, spaced evenly.

The majority of the ovate aperture of the shell is white, with an "apricot" shade on the lip edge, the inductura, and the parietal callus.