[4] Although they are eaten, and have been described as pan fish, Western Atlantic seabream have not gained the popularity as a gamefish that their relative, the sheepshead (A. probatocephalus) has.

The German naturalist Marcus Elieser Bloch described this species in his work, Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische (General Natural History of Fishes), under the name Archosargus unimaculatus in 1792, which is now considered an "ambiguous synonym".

They differ in that they are smaller,[9] have several horizontal blue streaks, mixed with gold or yellow, and a dark spot at the shoulder.

[12] The large intestine of the Western Atlantic seabream makes up roughly 90% of the length of its entire digestive tract.

Western Atlantic seabream feed mainly on small, benthic invertebrates, such as bivalves, crustaceans and aquatic plants[12] and can live up to two years in the wild.