Diagnosed from its congeners by the possession of the following characters: conical snout, not stout, terminal mouth; body fully covered by scales, scales relatively small, widely spaced especially on dorsal and ventral surfaces; scales deeply embedded in skin; skin conspicuously thickened in adults especially during spawning season when most scales are not visible; lateral line scales located close to each other and larger than remaining scales of body; and lateral line interrupted or not, usually ending on caudal peduncle, usually with 51-60 pored scales (Ref. 59043).