Tigers vary in length from three to five meters.
Color varies from bluish or greenish gray to black above and from light gray to dirty yellow or white bellow. Juveniles and specimens up to 1.5-1.8 m have a mottled appearance with their dorsal fins covered by dark spots on a light background. A race from the southeastern Caribbean has been described as shiny black above and a flawless white on the belly. The snout is short and bluntly rounded. Teeth are the same in both upper and lower jaws, deeply notched and very serrate.