This species is distinguished by the following characters: in life, yellowish body; swim bladder divided into 3 chambers; shield-shaped nuchal plate, usually larger than the supraoccipital process; head shield exposed and granulated in orbital and postorbital regions; first 2 gill with no mesial gill rakers. Sciades parkeri can further be distinguished from sympatric congeners by the following: fleshy furrow connecting posterior nares absent (vs. present in S. couma, S. herzbergii and S. passany); moderately sized posterior chamber of swim bladder (vs. small in S. proops; absent in S. couma, S. herzbergii, S. passany); nuchal plate with no anterior notch (vs. anterior notched in S. proops, sometimes notched in S. herzbergii); palatal patches forming a U-shaped band (vs. transverse in S. passany, lateral edge on accessory patches not emarginated or shallowly notched; lateral edge with an angled and pronounced notch in S. proops) (Ref. 86589).