D1 3+13; D2 absent; P1 14; P2 8; A 19. Color of back blue-green, flanks silvery, a dark humeral blotch (behind operculum) followed by 3 to 7 similar spots along flanks and occasionally spots along back. Tips of anterior dorsalfin rays dusky, caudal tin tips faintly dusky. Body fairly deep and compressed, belly with distinct keel of scutes. A black spot behind gill cover. Deep-bodied Sardinella species have no notch in midline of upper jaw and no spots along flank; species of Tenualosa have no fronto-parietal striae.