This species is distinguished by the following characters: similar to Oryzias marmoratus by having dark brown blotches on a grayish-brown trunk, differs from O. marmoratus by having 11 abdominal vertebrae, 12 or 13 transverse scales, a shorter caudal peduncle, terminal mouth, reduced nuchal concavity, scales diagonally aligned aslant to midlateral stripe, and male with round-shaped dorsal fin without yellow margin; differs from O. profundicola (sympatric congener in Lake Towuti), in having a longer snout in both sexes, males with larger head and eyes, and a black margined dorsal fin, and females with shallower body depth at the anal- and dorsal-fin origins; D 9-12, A 22-27; head length 24.4-27.2% SL (male 24.4-26.2%, female 24.6-27.2%); eye diameter 10.8-12.5% SL; snout length 7.9-9.3% SL; body depth at point of anal-fin origin 26.1-30.7% SL (male 27.5-30.7%, female 26.1-28.5%); body depth at point of dorsal-fin origin 24.1–28.4%SL (male 25.0-28.4%m female 24.1-26.8%); caudal peduncle length 8.0-11.2% SL (Ref. 133090).