The peal mullet has a fusiform outer body shape with a head length around 1/6 of the total. The mouth is in terminal position which slopes considerably downward and cannot open wide. Dorsal and anal fins are lD III 7-8 and A III 9-11 respectively (Berg, 1964). It has 17-21 gill rakers in general but in some cases it varies between 14-27. The dorsal fin is located at where the ventral fin ends, and usually it extends along the origin of the anal fin. There are rows of pharyngeal teeth in the form of 5:2-2:5 on each side. The count of scales on the lateral line ranges from 55 to 92. The lateral line dorsal fin origin and lateral line below scale count is 13-16 and 4-6 respectively (Sarı, 1997).

The body color varies significantly. It is usually bright silvery with dark grayish green on the back and bright silvery in the abdominal region. There is a scaleless keel between anal and ventral fins which is normally covered with scales (Geldiay and Balık, 1988). But especially juvenile fish have dark silvery color with greenish gray on the back. There are 3 narrow, dark collateral stripes along the body of those members smaller than 10 cm (Sarı, 1997). The scale count formula of the pearl mullet is 68 (12-16/6-9) 89 and the number of gill rakers are around 25-26. 

The body length is 4,6-5,4 times of the head length, and it is 4,9-6,2 times of the body depth. The vertebral count is around 40-41. It has considerably large eyes and a medium-size mouth in terminal position on the forward end of the head. It has no whiskers, and there are no scales on its keel between the anal and ventral fins. Due to light black tubercles on them, scales lose their brightness and become silvery green in color (Kuru 1987, Akgül 1984).