Larger specimens are far easier to discern, because of marked differences in color and body shape. By the time both species attain sexual maturity they become relatively easy to tell apart from one another, the silver bream's scales remaining a bright, highly reflective, silver colour all their lives, whilst the scales of the bronze bream begin to take on a variety of hues, from dark brown to a light ochre yellow, however, some bronze bream do remain a silvery colour all their lives, depending upon habitat. There is confusion when sexually mature silver bream and sexually immature bronze bream are cursorily compared in the field, because bronze bream grow to the same size as sexually mature silver bream very quickly whilst still very young, and when they are almost invariably a silver colour themselves.