The body of this fish is silvery white with a slight yellow tint on the back. There is a long oval black spot on the rear edge of the main gill cover and above the pectoral fins, and 5 to 6 rows of small black spots on the upper half of the body midline. The last 3 soft rays of the dorsal fin are extended into filaments, roughly reaching the starting point of the caudal fin. There are 16 to 20 soft rays in the dorsal fin. There are 19 to 27 soft rays in the anal fin. The body length can reach 32 cm.

It is a coastal fish that usually prefers bays with clear water. Although it will invade estuaries, it does not go too deep and may not be able to adapt to waters with too low salinity. It prefers sedimentary mud bottoms near estuaries and feeds on bottom algae.