Body elongate, slightly compressed, depth more or less uniform from head to caudal-fin base; head depressed, lateral head length 19.0-22.6 %SL; body depth 13.8-15.8 %SL; caudal peduncle length 16.6-18.9 %SL, depth 11.0-11.9 %SL, 1.44-1.70 times in length; anterior nostril pierced on front side of a flap; processus dentiformis present; no median notch in upper lip, lower lip with a median interruption; lower jaw with a median notch; lateral line complete; anus about 1-2 eye diameters in front of anal-fin origin; 8.5 branched dorsal-fin rays; 5.5 branched anal-fin rays; caudal fin emarginate, with 9+8 branched rays; axillary pelvic lobe present; body with 12-18 bars, narrower than or as wide as interspaces, sometimes very regularly shaped and set but usually irregularly shaped, incomplete, or interrupted, anterior ones often incomplete or fused at upper extremity but not meeting counterparts of other body side on back, leaving a narrow pale dorsal midline stripe, outlined on each side by a dark stripe; black bar at caudal-fin base incomplete, not reaching dorsal and ventral midlines, relatively broad and irregularly shaped, often split or with a constriction separating a black dot at upper extremity; a pale triangle in front of bar along both dorsal and ventral midlines; dorsal-fin base with an anterior black spot, followed by an orange patch and a low elongate grey blotch (Ref. 36949).