Greyish to brownish dorsally, silvery white on sides. Covered in dark pigment spots. Fins silvery to greyish, darkest distally. Body firm, very deep, compressed. Caudal peduncle short, deep, strongly compressed, lacking scute-like scales or fleshy keels. Snout blunt, rounded, forehead almost straight. Eye small, central, much shorter than snout. Mouth small, subterminal, curved downward posteriorly, not reaching anterior margin of eye. Upper jaw covered with skin, joined to head, not movable. Jaw teeth minute, in a single series, flattened with 3 cusps (central cusp much larger than those adjacent). Gill membranes joined to belly. Gill slit short, its lower margin slightly below pectoral-fin base. Scales very small, cycloid, and deciduous, barely extending onto fin bases. Naked patch on head and nape with well-defined network of longitudinal sensory canals, patch not extending above pectoral-fin base. Lateral line high, following dorsal profile onto caudal peduncle (Ref 12928).