The colour of the fish is a light sandy brown above, with a paler brown to white on the underside and a poorly defined silvery mid-lateral band. The scale margins are occasionally slightly darker than the centres, giving a vague mesh-like appearance above the lateral line. All the fins are transparent, the only exception being the spinous dorsal fin which has a dusting of fine black spots. There is no dark spot at the base of the pectoral fin, another feature used to distinguish between sillaginid species.