Shell small to medium-sized, mostly globose to conical but also auriform or limpet-shaped (Fossarininae, Stomatellinae), with a nacreous irridescent interior and, when it exists, a horny operculum always circular. The sculpture is mainly spiral, crossed only by weak incremental marks.
 

The genus is monospecific. Shell small, conical, low-spired, with almost flat whorls separated from each other by a thin but well marked suture, with a subsutural bead; the sculpture on the body whorls is made up of small granules arranged in spiral rows crossed by prosocline growth marks, and of soft threads on the base; umbilicus covered by the columellar callus.
 

Shell small, globose to conical, bearing numerous spiral rows of buttons; « umbilicus crenellated, aperture like a mouth of oven, entire, provided with several teeth and undulations; columella bearing teeth, the lower ones being the strongest; labial margins sharp and discontinuous. » – P. D. de Montfort: Conchyliologie systématique vol.II, Paris 1810, p.191.
 

Shell small, « conical, solid, approximately as high as broad. Protoconch less than 1 whorl, smooth, bordered with a delicate lip. Spire sculptured with beaded spiral cords; periphery of last whorl with peripheral angle, usually with peripheral rim. Abapical surface also with spiral cords. Axis imperforate or with minute umbilicus. Aperture strongly prosocline, rhomboidal in outline, with brightly nacreous surface inside and thin, sharp outer lip. Shell colour variable, with flames or articulated pattern on cords, nacre showing through in some cases. » – S. Gofas: “Geographical Differentiation In Clelandella (Gastropoda: Trochidae) In The Northeastern Atlantic”, Journal of Molluscan Studies vol.71(2), Oxford 2005, p.134.
 

Shell small, globose to conical, with somewhat convex whorls; sculpture of spiral striae, sometimes nodulose subsuturally; no columellar teeth or folds; umbilicus open even in adult stage, except in some turbinoides.
 

Shell small, conical, with flat whorls; sculpture of spiral threads, sometimes adorned with buttons, separated by flat bands covered with minute prosocline lamellae; last whorl angular at its periphery; no umbilicus.
 

The differences between Gibbula, Phorcus and Steromphala are primarily anatomic (how much pairs of epipodial tentacles etc.). Hence, the distinction based upon shell morphology only remains barely expressible, and of little use: shell small but larger than in the neighbouring genera, globose, with a spiral sculpture mainly made of striae, cords or threads, and a strongly prosocline set of growth marks that can, in one species (Ph. mutabilis), lead to the appearance of small nodules, mostly in the vicinity of the suture. The shell itself can be thin as well as thick-walled, with an umbilicus widely open (mutabilis, richardi) or sunken (articulatus, turbinatus).
 

Shell small, thin-walled, subtriangular, always umbilicate (but, in gerontic specimens, the navel tends to be totally covered by the columellar callus, especially in divaricata); absence of nodules like those of Gibbula fanulum or magus.
 

Shell small to medium-sized, triangular in shape, with a flat to slightly convex base, a strongly prosocline labial margin. The whorls are flat to weakly convex, and are covered with spiral rows of buttons; the radial sculpture can raise some nodules on the peripheral bead, or just below the suture. Close to the Tegulid Tectus Montfort, the genus Trochus is smaller, lighter in weight and not so strictly conical.