Differs from its congeners in Indochina by the combination of the following characters: body with 7-12 regular dark bars; intestine with a wide loop, anteriorly reaching to stomach; inner rostral barbel reaching to or beyond corner of mouth; outer one clearly reaching beyond base of maxillary barbel; predorsal and dorsal part of body not darkened; predorsal bars meeting their homologues on back; a complete black bar at caudal-fin base; posterior bars not dissociated; long dorsal crests on caudal peduncle in most specimens ; pelvic fin origin below branched dorsal fin rays 1-2; lateral line complete; caudal peduncle 0.9-1.2 times longer than deep; depth of caudal peduncle 13.4-15.6% SL; median caudal-fin ray 72.1-85.7% of length of upper caudal-fin lobe; eye diameter 4.1% SL; lateral head length 102-119% HL; processus dentiformis pointed; a median incision in upper lip in most specimens (Ref. 40772).