Distinguished from congeners (Traccatichthys pulcher and T. zispi) in China in having a wider interorbital space (width 39.1-48.4% HL vs. 27.4-33.7 in T. zispi and 27.2-35.4 in T. pulcher), a longer caudal peduncle (length 14.6-19.9% SL vs. 11.9-15.4 and 12.6-14.1), and longer pectoral fins (length 16.1-22.2% SL vs. 13.2-17.9 and 11.9-17.6). Similar to T. zispi in the shared absence of a black band along the leading dorsal-fin rays, subdistal and median black bands across the dorsal fin, and submarginal black streaks on the caudal-fin lobes that are characteristic of T. pulcher, but differs from T. zipsi in having a more anteriorly (vs. posteriorly) positioned anal fin (preanal length 72.0-76.5% SL (vs. 77.6-81.7). Differs from T. taeniatus from Vietnam in having a roughly round (vs. vertically elongated) black bar on the caudal-fin base, and in lacking a black band along the posterior part of the distal margin of the anal fin (Ref. 93045).