The Lemon shark gets its name from the fact that it is yellow in colour. The underside is usually white or a lighter yellowish colour. Besides yellow, the Lemon shark is also brown and olive grey in colour. The Lemon shark is stocky, blunt-nosed, and has two dorsal fins of similar size and shape. The first dorsal fin is low and positioned at the back of the pectoral fins, and the second dorsal is of similar shape and size and positioned at the front of the anal fin. The pelvic fin weakly concave (curving inwards) rear margins, and the pectoral fin's outer margin is slightly convex (curving outwards), and both fins are weakly falcate. The snout is round and shorter than the width of the mouth. There is no mid-dorsal ridge present on this species.