D1 I+VIII; D 2 I/18; P 1 22; P 2 I/5; A II+I/17. Color dusky or bluish above, silvery white bellow; black sort on operculum; occasionally darker bands across body in juveniles, Fins pale or yellow; pelvics of juveniles dark, becoming paler with growth. Body strongly compressed and very deep; head profile very steep. Teeth villiform. Two dorsal fins. Pectoral fins long and falcate. Scales small; breast naked in a large triangular area to behind pelvic fin and up the pectoral fin base but not above it. Lateral line anteriorly with a moderate.