This species is distinguished by the following set of characters: anterior nostril is a short tube with simple cirrus on posterior rim; maxilla rigid, not produced as a thin flexible lamina posteriorly; no supramaxilla; subopercle without a broad, fan-like flap; vomer no teeth; body with 43-47 oblique body scale rows in longitudinal series; vertebrae 10 + 17 = 27. Colouration: sides with two rows of pale spots, each approximately diameter of eye; body with six vertically irregular, evenly spaced bands, widest on mid-side, and two rows of six pale spots, each spot approximately diameter of eye; buccal area surrounding esophageal opening is pale. Also easily disinguished from its congeners by the divergence in the mitochondrial gene COI, as specimens form a monophyletic group that differs from its closest relative (O. whitehursti) by an

average of 11% (654 bp analyzed) (Ref. 129348).