Differs from its congeners by the following combination of characters: dorsum of head and body and all fins dark grey covered by numerous rounded cream dots; ventral surface of head and belly a plain cream color; 66-85 premaxillary/dentary teeth; cleithral width 3.0-3.4 in SL; abdominal length 3.9-4.5 in SL; eye diameter 5.2-6.2 in HL; pelvic fin-spine length 3.9-4.5 in SL; caudal peduncle depth 8.3-9.6 in SL; upper caudal-ray length 2.8-3.6 in SL; lower caudal-ray length 2.4-3.5 in SL; right mandibular ramus 3.9-4.6 in HL; dorsal spine length with mean 31.6 % SL; length of right mandibular ramus 3.9-4.6 in HL; abdominal length 3.9-4.5 in SL; head depth 1.6-1.7 in HL;, interorbital width 2.6-3.0 in HL; predorsal length 2.3-2.6 in SL; pectoral-fin spine length 2.8-3.3 in SL; caudal peduncle length 3.0-3.6 in SL; scutes along lateral line 26-28 (mode 27); scutes between end of dorsal fin to adipose fin 5-6 (mode 6) ; scutes from adipose to caudal fins 3-5 (mode 5), and scutes from anal to caudal fins 12-14 (mode 14) (Ref. 91776).