Powerful, torpedo-shaped body with small fins and a large, forked tail fin which is bright yellow in colour. The body has a bluish-green sheen on the upper side and is silvery-white below, with a horizontal yellow to bronze stripe along its side from snout to tail.
 
Circumglobal, confined to warm temperate shelf waters, seamounts and oceanic islands. South African population occurs from Namibia to northern KwaZulu-Natal but is mostly concentrated in shelf waters of the Western Cape.