This species is known from the northwestern end of the Persian Gulf, and from subfossil remains in brackish deposits in the lower Tigris–Euphrates basin of Iraq.

[4] Eames later told S. Peter Dance that he chose the name because, as a species known from subfossils, it "had been dead for a long time, and could be described as a cadaver," and as a pun on the familiar magical incantation abracadabra.

The lower margin is convex and evenly curved, and the surface of the upper part of the shell is striated with fine, irregular, transverse concentric markings.

[3] Living specimens of the species have since been obtained from the northwestern part of the Persian Gulf,[6] including in "muddy and silty substrates" around Failaka Island of Kuwait.

Much of the species' former habitat, as evidenced by subfossil remains, is now less brackish than it was when the fossils were deposited, meaning it is less likely to be extant in such places.