Medium-sized fish. The body is oval; dorsal fin continuous; eyes very large; mouth large and oblique; preopercular spine short and broad. The head and body reddish silvery or, alternately, pale yellowish with gray mottling; the iris of the eye pink to bright red. The dorsal, anal, and caudal fins pink with reddish-brown spots in the membranes, or yellowish with dusky spots. This species resembles P. blochii, but differs from it by having pointed soft dorsal and anal fins, and black membrane between the first and the second dorsal spine.