Differs from its congeners in Indochina by the combination of the following characters: males with rounded suborbital flap; caudal fin deeply forked; body with 7-14 dark bars on body irregularly shaped, often incomplete or joining another bar; head yellowish with small brown spots on top and cheeks; dorsal rays hyaline with a broad black band at mid-length of rays; processus dentiformis present; 9+8 branched rays in caudal fin; lateral line complete; axillary pelvic lobe present; eye smaller than interorbital width; predorsal area covered by scales; a complete black bar at caudal-fin base (Ref. 40772).