Back and flanks gr een to dar k br own. Bellywhite to bluish. Dorsal and caudal fins with rows ofblack spots. Other fins pale yellow. Eye silvery. Youngwith 8-13 brown to black bars. Peritoneum silvery. Canineteeth on jaws and palatines. Preopercle serrated posteriorlyand with a ventral spine. Opercle with a weakspine. Gill rakers with densely denticulated tubercles inadults. Gut relatively short with a long anterior loop and4-9 pyloric caeca. In small schools near sandy and stonybottoms in deeper water of rivers. Freshwater and semianadromous.Tolerates temperatures of up to 35°C andprefers turbid waters. Maximum age 19 years, totallength 1.5 m and weight 20 kg. Maturity at 2-6 years and32-42 cm. Females with lighter belly and swelling analpapillae. Spawning migration in March to early April.Spawning in April to June. Males build nests on hardbottoms and turbid water. Nest guarded and eggs fannedby male. Spawning intermittent over several days. Femalesdescend to sea first after spawning. Absolute fecundityup to 2,500,000 eggs with diameters of up to 1.5mm. Food include zooplankton in young, and fish andsometimes cannibalism, in adults.