"[2] Other names in English include bull's-mouth conch, red helmet or cameo shell.

[5] The shell is thick-walled and heavy, roughly oval and with a surface featuring three or four strongly nodular rows and spiral bands in grooves, clearly visible; orange and cream to reddish-brown in color, with lighter to gray spots.

It prefers sandy substrates near coral reefs, where it is a predator on sea urchins.

[7] The species has been observed from the coasts of East Africa to Polynesia; including Madagascar, Sri Lanka and the tropical islands of the Indian Ocean, through Indonesia and Melanesia to Polynesia; along China's coast as far north as Taiwan, also in southern Japan, northern Queensland, and the Fiji Islands, but has not been found in Micronesia, Hawaii or the coasts of India.

[3][8][9] This species is found off the southern African coast from northern KwaZulu-Natal and Mozambique.