A moderate sized Cynoscion, the largest specimen is 353 mm TL. It can be distinguished from its congeners by : a long head contained 2.8 to 3 times in SL, a large eye contained 5.1 to 5.8 times in head length (HL), a low gill raker count, a relatively high number of dorsal-fin rays (23-26), a long pectoral fin contained 1.6 in HL, a dark steel grey color on its dorsum and a black pigmented oral cavity.