Distinguished by the having the following characters: usually VI-I, 9 dorsal fins, larger male with pointed first dorsal fin with elongate spines 4 and 5, posterior tip of the fin usually extending to base of soft-rays 2-5 of second dorsal fin; 14-16 (mode 15) pectoral-fin rays; 32-56 premaxillary teeth, 29-61 horizontal dentary teeth; males with nine blackish obscure transverse bars laterally on tail and clear black spots distributed over almost entire rays of pectoral fin, number of spots on the longest ray 5-10; females with two black, straight and simple longitudinal bands laterally on body, often with 1-4 black spots on second dorsal-fin rays, 2-5 black transverse bars on central part of caudal fin, and 1-7 black spots on pectoral-fin rays (Ref. 90214).