Other common names of the species include black perch and butterlips.

[6] They are usually a uniform dark reddish brown to tan in color, but they often also possess large darker colored vertical bars across their body (unlike striped surfperches which have horizontal orange and blue stripes).

Black surfperches can still be distinguished, however, by the presence of a patch of enlarged scales between the pectoral and the pelvic fins.

The tail and pelvic fins are usually orange to reddish, occasionally possessing gold and dark blue stripes.

[6][7] During mating season (summer), the males develop a pair of nipple-like organs extending from their anal fins.

[2][5][7] The specific name honours A.C Jackson who carried out a survey of port locations in San Francisco where he drew a sketch of a gravid female which he sent to Agassiz.