The color is generally cream to light fawn dorsally, with shades of brown.

[2] The common name Arabian cowry is based on a dense and irregular pattern of thin longitudinal brown lines which are sometimes interrupted by empty spaces, giving an appearance that is considered to be similar to that of Arabic script.

[3] Mauritia arabica is distributed widespread in the Indo-West Pacific, from East and South Africa (including Madagascar, but not the Red Sea nor the Persian Gulf), to the eastern Polynesia.

[2] This sea snail dwells under boulder and stones, and also shelters in caverns of the outskirts of coral reefs.

[2] It lives in low intertidal zones to shallow sublittoral depths.