It is a pale blue-grey in colour with a few irregular darker bars and a dark, sail-like dorsal fin.

It differs from Caristius digitus through the lack of a series of fingerlike papillae inside the opercle (the Greenland manefish has at most one), the short conical pharyngeal teeth (they are elongated in C. digitus), and fewer gill rakers.

It is known from the oceans around Argentina, Canada, Greenland, Namibia and South Africa.

[3] While the diet of these species has not been examined in any detail, it is known to eat pelagic crustaceans, such as plankton.

[7] From the capture of females and juveniles, it is believed that spawning occurs on the edges of sub-tropical waters, such as the Sargasso Sea, around the Gulf Stream and off the Azores.