Sciaenurus bowerbanki was an early crown-group sparid and one of the oldest seabream relatives known from a substantial skeleton. Its lower jaw is short and deep, with a row of large rounded-based teeth and finer teeth medially. Unlike many later seabreams it lacks a strongly molariform crushing dentition, suggesting that it was not a dedicated shell-crusher.

The tooth form is more compatible with taking softer prey such as small fishes, cephalopods or less heavily armoured invertebrates, although that diet remains an inference. The London Clay skull, hyoid and opercular material make this species important for tracing how the characteristic sparid feeding apparatus developed early in the Cenozoic.