The basic color of these oval-shaped smooth and shiny shells is whitish, with irregular greenish or blueish blotches or trasversal bands and brown small brown spots on the edges of both sides.

In the living cowries the mantle is very thin and transparent, with short papillae and external antennae.

This species and its subspecies can be found in East Africa, in the Indian Ocean and in the western Pacific Ocean, in the seas along Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Samoa.

Living cowries can be encountered in tropical shallow water, usually hidden during the day under rocks or corals.

As a matter of fact they fear the light and only at dawn or dusk they start feeding on algae or coral polyps.