Description: Slightly concave dorsal profile from snout tip to caudal-fin insertion and with similar pre- and post-dorsal curvature; ventral body surface mor or less straight (Ref. 127997). Snout pointed, mouth narrow with both lateral limits marked by an outgrowth in the form of a pointed bullet; space between nostrils and tip of snout with an arch of 10 pores visible as small dots; free posterior opercular margin situated shortly behind level of anterior base of pectoral fins (Ref. 127997). Pelvic fin insertion below the fourth dorsal ray; caudal fin is well indented, i.e., over about two-fifths of its horizontal length, with its lower lobe slightly longer than its upper lobe (Ref. 127997). Specimens with 41-42 vertebrae, which are arranged in 16 pre-dorsal, 29-30 pre-anal, 14-15 vertebrae between anterior base of dorsal and anal fin, 25-26 post-dorsal and 12-13 post-anal vertebrae (Ref. 127997).

Colouration: In life, overall background colour light brown, yellowish-green, with a series of fairly faint, dark-grey or black transversal bands on the upper half of the body and a continuous black band along the lateral line; the band starts on the snout, continues over the eye level and the upper level of the operculum, and extends longitudinally on the body up to the caudal-fin base; it is situated just below the lateral line at the level of the operculum and on the lateral line itself from the level of the anterior base of the dorsal fin onwards to the base of the caudal fin; the black band is bordered towards its upper edge by a rather faint, narrow, yellow-green band; the lateral line itself is whitish yellow in colour; the dorsal surface of the body is rather greenish with fairly faint dark-grey or black transversal bars; these bars are narrower on the pre-dorsal part than on the post-dorsal one, in contact with the black longitudinal band and sometimes forked on the pre-dorsal part of the body and clearly more saddle-like, i.e. rounded and not in contact with the black longitudinal band, on the post-dorsal part of the body; a whitish ventral surface of head, body and caudal peduncle; the upper lateral side of the head, i.e. from the ventral level of the eye to the dorsal surface of the head, is blackish; eye has a dark-brown iris, except for its ventral quarter, which is whitish and with a thin, yellowish-orange edge around the pupil; the upper half of the opercular region is marked by a large black spot, resulting from the extension of the lateral mid-longitudinal black band, also marked by small greenish-yellow highlights; the lower half of the opercular region is whitish; pectoral, pelvic and anal fins more or less whitish, colourless, translucent or even transparent with orangish bases; caudal fin has two oblique black bands on each lobe, with the first ones on both lobes touching each other and forming a semi-circle; its base is marked by a black vertical band that almost touches both the dorsal and ventral midline of the caudal peduncle (Ref. 127997). Preserved specimens have a beige overall body colour; the dorsal surface of the pre-dorsal region usually has a black longitudinal band on the dorsal mid-longitudinal line, with three to four black spots in a continuous row in some specimens; eyes entirely black; the opercular region is marked by a rather blackish spot on its upper half and its lower half becoming silver; the ventral side of the head and body is light yellow or white in colour; most of the vivid colours disappear after preservation, instead the lateral mid-longitudinal black band, slightly paler in the anterior region and darker in the posterior region, and the vertical areas on the caudal fin are conserved (Ref. 127997).