Alburnus selcuklui can be diagnosed from other congeners in East Anatolia by the combination of the following characters: head short; snout rounded; anal-fin origin 0-4 scales behind dorsal fin-base; 70-80 + 3-4 scales on lateral line; 10-15 gill rakers; prominent epidermal lateral stripe; lateral body without black pigmentation along and below lateral line; 8½-9 branched dorsal-fin rays; and 11-12½ branched anal-fin rays. Other diagnostic characters include the following: a very weak ventral keel exposed for 8-16 scales in front of anus; head length 21-24 % SL, 0.9-1.2 times in body depth at dorsal-fin origin; predorsal length 52-56 % SL; caudal peduncle depth 9-11 % SL, caudal peduncle length 21-24 % SL; eye diameter 23-30 % head length, 0.78-1.08 times in interorbital distance; body depth at dorsal-fin origin 20-26 % SL; faint, dark lateral stripe on body; and caudal peduncle 2.0-2.6 times longer than deep (Ref. 115533).