The family is monotypic. Shell small to medium-sized, external, cylindrical. The animal cannot retract inside completely.
 

« Shell external, fragile, translucent, cvlindrical to slightly bulloid. Spire flattened to elevated with a partially embedded protoconch. Aperture equal to the length of the spire or slighty shorter. Thin periostracum forming a raised flange at the keel. […] Gizzard with a number of irregular plates arranged in three tiers. » – Valdés & Barwick: “First record of Akera Müller, 1776, from the Eastern Pacific, with the description of a new species”, The Nautilus vol.119(1), Melbourne, Fla. 2005, p.44. Posterior terminal narrow; microsculpture made up of radial growth marks and spiral striae; aperture enlarged anteriorly; columellar callus extremely thin, not always present.