This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following set of characters: fin ray counts: D2 I,10; A I,10; P 17-18; D1 not connected to D2; squamation: LR 7-11; anterior half of body is naked, lateral scale present from 5th-6th rays of second dorsal-fin to hypural, embedded in skin; upper jaw teeth in male 14-19, while in female 33-38; urogenital papilla in male slender and distally pointed, flanked by pair of associated fleshy lobes and not retractable into sheath-like groove. Colouration: upper lip greyish, red patches on pectoral-fin base, on mid-body below origin of second dorsal-fin and at caudal peduncle (Ref. 127458).