This species was first described by the German malacologist Peter Friedrich Röding in 1798, the type locality being the Red Sea. The shell can grow to a length of 200 mm (8 in), and the live snail can weigh about 450 g. The shell is elongated ovate, with a short body whorl and a narrowly conical spire with ten or more whorls. The smaller whorls are finely sculptured with transverse ridges; the larger whorls are nearly smooth. The large ovate aperture is whitish, contracted at the top by a transverse fold of the left lip. The outer lip is emarginated at its upper edge, and has about six blunt teeth on its lower edge. The beak is straight in young shells but becomes curved with age. The colour is some shade of brown or reddish-brown with a white or golden aperture.