It is a small Sparidae (dorado family) with an oblong and compressed body with a frontal profile less gibbous than that of dorados (porgies and pears); the muzzle is truncated and the teeth are carded on the front of the jaws which carry 8 teeth a little longer and pointed; the lateral teeth are molariform and small. The scaling on the head exceeds the level of the middle of the eye. The body is pink with silver highlights, with some blue dots on the back and vertical reddish bands on the flanks that disappear quickly after death. It is a species of muddy and sandy muddy bottoms that are found between the coast and 150 m deep. It is typically West African and very common from Mauritania to Angola.

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