Characteristics: Physical Description: Maximum reported size: 20 mm. The shell has a yellow-brown periostracum, most apparent immediately below the suture where it forms crowded axial blades. The shell is dark brown to orange-brown beneath this layer. Near the center of the body whorl, random white creamy markings are clustered forming a broken spiral band. The operculum is yellow-brown, translucent, and shaped like a fingernail. The apex is whitish, as is the aperture, which has a row of tiny teeth inside the outerlip. The 1.5-whorled protoconch is erect and white. A sculpture of weak spiral ridges and axial scratches becomes obsolete at the center of the body whorl, and strengthens again at the base. The soft parts of the animal are dark purple. Notes: Species first reported as Pyrene ovulata.