As its name suggests, it is closely related to and resembles the trumpeter whiting which inhabits the east coast of Australia and is distinguishable by swim bladder morphology alone.

The location where the specimen was taken is also uncertain, with McKay narrowing down the range to between Depuch and Barrow Islands in northern Western Australia, with New Guinea an outside possibility.

[4] As with most of the genus Sillago, the western trumpeter whiting has a slightly compressed, elongate body tapering toward the terminal mouth, reaching a maximum overall length of 36 cm (14 in).

The body is an overall light sandy brown, being darker above and paler on the lower sides, with a silver mid line of the belly.

[7] S. burrus prefers silty-sand or muddy substrates, with the larger adults feeding near channels and sandbars, and may also be found on mostly sandy bottoms.

[9] The species also has the ability to withstand brackish water for extended periods, evident by their presence in intermittently open estuaries which are closed to the sea for most of the year.

[10] The western trumpeter whiting occupies the same areas a number of other sillaginids, and therefore has a slightly different diet to these other species to avoid interspecific competition.

During its juvenile stage, the species diet is predominantly grammarid amphipods and copepods, while as the fish grow to maturity, they tend to take more decapods such as caridean shrimps and crabs, as well as polychaetes.

[12] The spreading of the release of eggs over the spawning periods would act as a buffer against any problems posed by adverse fluctuations in environmental conditions such as the amount of food available to larvae, or to predation pressure.

[12] This may be to reduce competition with other inshore sillaginid species such as S. vittata and S. bassensis, whose juvenile stages occupy the same shallow areas as S.