This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: entire lower body with a red stripe, from the eye back to caudal-fin base where it grades into black ending in a dorsally asymmetrical spot that angles sharply towards the ventral portion of the caudal fin; pectoral-fin base with line of small black dots extending down to its base, the upper half are larger and more intense, the ones on the lower half smaller, less intense, and expanded across lower part of the base; cephalic sensory pore system lacking the PITO and IT pores and the AITO pore is enlarged; usually 10/9 dorsal/anal fin-ray formula; simple pectoral-fin rays; in both sexes the spinous dorsal-fin elongate or filamentous; genital papilla nonfimbriate. In life, the ventral red stripe is bordered dorsally by a bright white stripe that runs from the top of the head back to the caudal fin where it curves down following the angled black spot; the eye without a narrow white line on the iris above the pupil; a wide white line extends up the interorbital area, the width of the line extending from eye to eye (Ref. 95677).