The species is distinguished from its congeners by the following set of characters: D 60; A 53-55; pectoral-fin rays 20-21; caudal-fin rays 6; vertebrae 63-64; dorsal contour of head rounded to snout, covered with gelatinous tissue; short snout with rounded tip projecting past upper jaw; small mouth, horizontal, inferior, with cleft reaching to nearly vertical below center of eye; large eye with dorsal margin level with or slightly above top of gill

opening; large opercular flap, rounded, projecting slightly toward dorsal; upper lobe of pectoral fin with 15 rays, one in

notch, and 4 or 5 in lower lobe, both lobes extending beyond anal-fin origin; cephalic pores are equal to or smaller in diameter than nostril; suprabranchial pore elevated, anterior of gill opening a distance about equal to opercular flap width; 3 pyloric caeca (Ref. 82595).