Bailya intricata is a small but attractive gastropod that reaches only 18 mm (about 0.7 inch). Its shell sculpture presents 14–36 axial (“vertical”) ribs crossed by spiral lines, with beads forming at the intersections. The shell color is an even cream-yellowish- to light-brown. The species is found off Florida, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. This species may be difficult to distinguish from the Small Phos (Bailya parva), a species with similar geographic distribution; this latter, however, seems to have a smaller number of axial ribs (10-14), more angled whorls shoulder, and a color pattern of faint, broad white and light-brown bands. The specimen in the photo, the first on record from Sanibel or Captiva islands, was found by Debi and Barry McBroom on April 8, 2024, at the Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel.
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