Elongate, slender, moderately compressed; teeth small, a single row on each jaw; no papillae at front of shoulder at edge of gill chamber; eye with fatty eyelid; gill rakers (excluding rudiments) 14-18 + 38-43; dorsal fin VIII + I, 31-33; anal fin with II isolated spines + I, 26-30; dorsal and anal fins without isolated finlets behind main part of fins; pectoral fins long, reach past origin of anal fin; well developed, vertically expanded scutes (large spiny scales) on both curved and straight parts of lateral line, those on curved part of the lateral line relatively small (25-45% of eye diameter); with an accessory lateral line along top of back under spiny dorsal fin; scales obvious over all of body except just behind pectoral fin.
Metallic blue to olive green on back, lower two-thirds paler, usually whitish to silvery; a black spot on upper edge of gill opening.
Size: reaches about 81 cm, common to 55 cm.
Habitat: a coastal pelagic species. Depth: 0-400 m.
Alaska to the tip of Baja and the SW Gulf of California.
T. murphyi which occurs in the southern part of our region is the sister species of T. symmetricus.
