Shells small, turbiniform, thick, differing from the Turbinidae by their non-bicarinate juvenile shell. Sculpture: none but some growth marks, or made up of more or less marked spiral threads.
 

Sculpture: « whorls carinate covered with smooth striae, the last one concave topside; base smooth and glossy »: Cantraine’s description of Turbo carinatus is, in reality, that of the genus.
 

Shell imperforate when adult, with a weak or absent spiral sculpture.
 

Shell imperforate when adult, with often a marked spiral sculpture.