This species is distinguished by the following set of characters: gill rakers on upper limb of 1st gill arch, 18-21 (modally 20), on lower limb 28-29 (28), total 47-49 (48); gill rakers on upper limb of 2nd gill arch, 13-15 (13), on lower limb 24-27 (24), total 37-42 (38); gill rakers on upper limb of 3rd gill arch, 9-11 (10), on lower limb 13-15 (14), total 23-26 (24); gill rakers on upper limb of 4th gill arch, 6-9 (8), on lower limb 9-12 (11), total 15-20 (20); prepelvic scutes 5-7 (6); total vertebrae 38-40 (38); maxilla long with posterior tip just reaching or slightly short of posterior margin of opercle; absence of predorsal scutes; pelvic scute no spine; posterior margin of preopercle indented; parietal area with paired dark patches, with a few following pigment spots; distinct double pigment lines along dorsum posterior to the dorsal fin; no black spots below the eye and lower-jaw tip; body rather elongate, 21.1-22.6% of SL; pre-anal-fin length is short, 62.3-64.0% of SL; distance between the origins of dorsal and anal fins rather short, 21.2-22.9% of SL; distance between the pelvic-fin insertion to anal-fin origin relatively short, 16.6-19.4% of SL; pelvic fin is rather short, 8.1-9.0% of SL; third dorsal-fin ray is short, 16.5-17.0% of SL; third anal-fin ray is short, 13.4-14.9% of SL; postorbital area is relatively short, 48.2-51.3% of HL (Ref. 130209).