It has a deep body, and a greenish colour with metallic overtones and a dark spot above the gills. The fins are yellow. Maximum size is about 120 cm.

Extremely large schools are common around Auckland in the summer months. Not often found South of Cook Strait. Adults occur in bays and coastal waters, including estuaries (Ref. 9563). Juveniles usually inhabit estuaries, bays and shallow continental shelf waters, while adults form schools near the sea bed on the continental shelf. Schools are found at the surface, in mid-water and on the bottom and are often associated with reefs and rough bottom.

Feed on plankton by ram-filtering (the predator moves forward with its mouth open, engulfing the prey along with the water surrounding it) and suction feeding and on bottom invertebrates.

Eggs are pelagic (floating in the ocean). Extremely large schools are common around Auckland in the summer months.
Not often found South of Cook Strait. Often wrongly identified as juvenile warehou.

A Treasury of New Zealand Fishes: Graham
Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen and J.E. Hanley, 1989. Pisces. Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 7. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 665 p. http://www.fishbase.org/summary/1002