This species is distinguished by the following characters: body moderately short and deep, strongly compressed; mouth moderately large with upper jaw reaching to hind margin of eye; 2 tooth patches on upper surface of tongue; 13-22 large, conical teeth on upper jaw, 10-17 on lower jaw; 12-15 total gill rakers on first gill arch; l28-33 laminae of olfactory rosette; interorbital width 23.9 to 31% of head length; D1 XVI-XVIII,17-19, dorsal fins close together, the first high anteriorly, soft rays followed by 8-10 finlets; A 15-17 followed by 6-7 finlets; pectoral fins short with 22-24 rays; interpelvic process small and bifid; body mostly naked behind the well-developed corselet except for a band of scales along bases of dorsal and anal fins and patches of scales around bases of the pectoral and pelvic fins; caudal peduncle slender, with a well-developed lateral keel between 2 smaller keels on each side; no swimbladder, spleen not visible in ventral view, concealed under liver; liver with an elongate right lobe and a short left lobe which tends to fuse with the middle lobe; vertebrae 22-24 + 23-26 = 47-48. Colour of belly light with several stripes reminiscent of those of the skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis; back deep blue covered with elongate black spots; first dorsal fin jet black anteriorly, white in the few last posterior membranes; anal and second dorsal fins yellow (Ref. 9684).