The sculpture shows five spiral rows of rounded brown nodules separated by twelve axial ribs with fine granules, giving the shell a knobby appearance.

Over-populations or outbreaks of the snail have been recorded in multiple regions since the 1980s,[2] and generally occur on reefs impacted by human activities or following mass mortality events such as coral bleaching.

[3] D. Rugosa is known to contribute to secondary mortality following such events,[4] and have also been linked to increased prevalence of coral diseases.

[5] This species is distributed in the intertidal zone and shallow rocky areas in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, the Gulf of Thailand,[3] and in the Western Pacific.

Little is known about their reproductive cycle, however it was recently documented in the Gulf of Thailand that they use the skeletons of the corals they have recently consumed on which to lay their benthic eggs, particularly on corals of the Fungiidae Family.