Shell clearly slender, fusiform, much more varicose than O. nicolai, which it resembles. The whorls are rounded, the suture is marked. Colour: brownish to brick-red, paler on the labial varice. There is sometimes a pale band on the last whorl.
 
« I named this elegant shell from the name of the famous naturalist Dr. Camillo Heller, who honors me with not a few kindnesses, and who enriches the Dalmatian marine fauna with many important discoveries, which he made public. » – S. Brusina: “Conchiglie dalmate inedite”, Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-königlichen Zoologisch-botanisch Gesellschaft in Wien vol.15, Wien 1865, p.8.