This species is distinguished by the following characters: body very deep, compressed, with a strongly humped back; body depth 1.7-1.9 times in standard length; mouth pointing downward when protracted; gill rakers short and fleshy, less than 1/2 length of corresponding gill lamellae, total gill rakers on first gill arch 18-22; head and breast scaleless; tubed scales on lateral line 61-66. Colour of adults, back greyish, belly silvery and many parallel close-set faint bars on back; usually a dark brown saddle on caudal peduncle; axil of pectoral fins grey to black; margin of soft dorsal fin black; both caudal-fin lobes with broad dusky margins; pectoral, pelvic, and anal fins colourless to yellowish. In juveniles (5-7 cm TL), thin, closely arranged, grey vertical lines descending from back to about midheight; membrane between anal-fin spines conspicuously yellow; posterior margin of caudal-fin lobes pale yellow and dusky; other fins hyaline; snout dotted black (Ref. 47581).