This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following set of characters: dorsal head profile straight from nape above eye to upper lip tip; posterior angle of jaws extending to between a vertical line drawn through anterior edge of eye and a vertical line drawn through anterior part of eye; infraorbital invagination vertical to posterior part of eye; posterior opercular edge w-shaped with two equally long tips; longitudinal infralateral and suborbital transversal rows of superficial neuromasts are in the well-defined deep groove; trunk cross-section behind pectoral fin base half oval with straight ventral side; body granules shallow and inconspicuous; upper attachment of gill membrane is opposite to 5th to 6th pectoral ray; pectoral rays 17-19; upper attachment of disc membrane attaching to base of pectoral fin at 16th-18th pectoral ray; principal caudal rays 10-11; head length 25.0-28.9% of SL; pectoral fin length 8.2-10.3% of SL; prepectoral distance 24.7-28.2% of SL; ventral adhesive disc length 14.9-19.0% SL; caudal-fin length 14.2-17.5% of SL; low number of vertebrae 35-36; pharyngeal jaws with small ceratobranchial 5, having a few hardly recognizable small conical teeth; nasal bones with inconspicuous frontal end; in life with star-like pigmentation around eyes, body colouration dark, sometimes marbled or with stripes (Ref. 123696).