This small narrow-bodied species shares the characters for the genus; i.e., mostly straight lateral line, apparently uniserial and even-sized teeth, relatively long thin gill rakers with no serrations, urogenital papilla on the blind side, asymmetric pelvic fin placement with ocular-side fin-base along ventral midline (the Cyclopsetta group sensu Hensley and Ahlstrom 1984), and a medium-sized mouth with upper-jaw length greater than 30% HL (vs. less in Etropus). It is distinguished from its congeners by the low fin-ray counts, D 70-75 A 51-58; low numbers of slender gill rakers, 4-7+8-10 (usually 6+9 or 6+10); a narrow body with maximum body width in adults 39-45% SL; low numbers of pored lateral line scales, 41-42; vertebrae 10+25; firmly attached (non-deciduous) scales (Ref. 93094).