The common name triton refers to the widely flared lip and columellar fold, giving the shell a prominently flared opening. Certain ranellids are similar to muricids, but a distinctive difference is that no more than two varices are found on a whorl and those on adjacent whorls rarely connect.

The Ranellids feed on other mollusks, sea urchins and starfish and they either spray or inject an cholinergic secretion in their saliva that paralyzes their prey. Because the pelagic larval period is long in certain species and can be carried by the current, they have a wide distribution.