This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: sooty black nasal chambers; few anal fin rays (37 vs. 49-54), few vertebrae (45 vs. 54-58), a wider head (12.0 % SL vs. 7.7-9.8 % SL); a pair of sub-dermal spines fused to form a broad ridge on frontal just behind eyes, a small, median, sub-dermal, ethmoidal spine just in front of eyes and an antero-ventrally directed spine at lower angle of preopercle (all spines covered by skin); anterior gill arch with 3 developed rakers, only slightly larger than the spiny knobs, gill filaments 7-8 times length of developed rakers; slightly prolonged pectoral peduncle; palatines with several tooth rows; vertebrae, precaudal 16 and total 45; fin rays, D 74, A 37, caudal 10 and pectoral 18 (Ref. 93007).