The margins, the base and the teeth are completely dark brown or black.

In the living cowries the mantle is greyish or black, with long cylindrical papillae.

This species occurs in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along East Africa (Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania), in the western Pacific (western Australia, Philippines), in Polynesia and Hawaii.

These cowries live on coral reef or in shallow lagoons in tropical intertidal and subtidal waters up to 30 m depth.

They can be found under ledges and in small coral caves at night, as they start feeding at dusk.