Maximum shell length 7.5 cm, commonly to 5 cm. Attached by byssus among rocks, underside of food slabs, nestling in crevices. Littoral and sublittoral to of 20 collected lot East the Philippines and marketed fresh or salted. Widespread in the Indo-West and South Africa, including Madagascar, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, to eastern Polynesia; north to Japan and Hawaii, and south to Queensland.