It measures up to 15 cm (6 in) in length, and the upper or dorsal side is white, pale bluish-white, or buff, densely covered with dark brown or blackish barely circular spots.

[9] As is the case in almost all cypraeids, two lateral extensions of the mantle are able to extend so as to cover the shell completely, meeting at the midline of the dorsal surface.

The tiger cowrie is found on the ocean floor in the Indo-Pacific region, from the eastern coast of Africa to the waters of Micronesia and Polynesia, the Coral Sea and around the Philippines.

[9] Once common, it is now much less abundant due to shell collecting and the destruction of its habitat by such processes as dynamite fishing, especially in shallower areas.

Sponge species included Dysidea spp., Mycale parishii, M. grandis, Haliclona caerulea, Halichondria coerulea, Cladocroce burapha, and Gelliodes wilsoni.

This shows the importance of C. t. schilderiana in maintaining the normal variety of life in Hawaiian marine habitats by constraining invasive species in Hawaii.