Back light gr ey or olive, flanks and belly silvery.An indistinct silvery stripe or two grey stripesalong flank. Scale margins with black spots. Eye silverywith top lime and brown below. Young fish with an evidentmid-lateral stripe. Body compressed. Head relativelyflat. Lateral line indistinct. A short pectoral axillaryscale present. Relatively strong spines in first dorsal andanal fins. Eye covered by fatty tissue as far as part of iris.Lips thin and lower lip with a pronounced knob. Pegliketeeth on upper jaw and scattered ciliate teeth on lowerjaw. End of maxilla with a bend and its tip exposed. Ctenoidscales in adults. Stomach strong, intestine long andcoiled and with four pyloric caeca. Gill rakers shorterthan gill filaments and bear spinules. Marine, coastal,brackish and freshwater. Tolerate salinities up to 30‰and temperatures up to 35°C. Maximum age 7 years, totallength 26 cm and weight 150 g. Maturity in 1-2 yearsat 16 cm total length. Spawns once or twice a year fromFebruary to June, with a peak in April. Sex ratio1male:1.5females. Absolute fecundity up to 64,000 eggswith a diameter of 0.8 mm. Food include detritus, aquaticplants, phytoplankton, insect larvae and crustaceans