This species is distinguished from its congeners except P. australis, P. brevis, P. elongata, P. filamentosa/i> by having the primary stripe restricted to the head (vs. primary stripe extending beyond head, reaching the anterior portion of the body but not the vertical through pectoral fin tip in P. eleanorae, P. laeta, P. lugubris, P. obermulleri, P. stoli, P. spilota, P. vittata; reaching at least the vertical through the pelvic-fin origin, but not reaching the vertical through the anal-fin terminus in P. semifasciata, P. maxima; or reaching the caudal-fin in P. beni, P. marilynae, P. zigzag. It differs from P. australis, P. brevis, P. elongata, P. filamentosa with the primary stripe reaching the distal edge of the opercle (vs. stripe restricted to snout and sometimes across eye, but always lacking a conspicuous dark postorbital portion); differs further from P. brevis by the number of premaxillary teeth (outer series: 15-20 vs. 25-27; inner series: 24-31 vs. 38-41), and dentary teeth (outer series: 13-20 vs. 22-26; inner series: 32-45 vs. 50-54); it differs further from P. australis by having 10 principal rays on the upper caudal-fin lobe (vs. 9 rays); from P. filamentosa by possessing fewer scales along the lateral line series (22-25 vs. 25-30); and from P. elongata by having 10-12 scales in the first longitudinal paired series, with that series reaching posterior to the pelvic-fin origin (vs. no more than 6 scales in that series, with that series falling far short of the vertical through the pelvic-fin origin) (Ref. 137971).