Shells cerithiiform, small to large, usually brownish; the pattern, when it exists, is only spiral; aperture with an anterior notch instead of a true siphonal canal. In some genera, there is a peculiar anatonomical feature worth to be noticed: the presence of a third eye on the mantle, in addition to those of the tentacles.
 

Shell small to medium-sized, elongate; whorls moderately convex, suture marked; sculpture made up of three totally visible spiral cords per whorl, with a fourth one partially sunken in the suture; numerous axial ribs, more or less strong, can give the surface of the whorl a granulose appearance; possibility of varices; posterior canal sometimes marked.