This species is distingushed by the follwoing set of characters: large eyes, ~27-28% of head length; (2) anterior nostril with a small triangular process; (3) 14 soft rays on D2, 13 soft rays on A; (4) enlarged first dorsal fin rays (adult males), with third D1 spine the longest, 23-27% SL; (5) uppermost P fin rays not free from membrane; (6) long V-shape pelvic fins, ~19% of standard length; (7) 50-51 scales on LL; (8) head oculoscapular canal with pores ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?1, ?2, and preopercular canal with pores ?, ?, ? present; (9) row x1 ending anteriorly behind pore ?; (10) a groove section between pore ? and ?1 connecting the anterior and the posterior oculoscapular canals; (11) suborbital row d discontinuous with large gap below suborbital rows 3 and 4; (12) rows o separated; (13) seven enlarged orange blotches on body side; (14) white dots on cheek and opercle on an orange background.