Macrognathus fasciatus can be distinguished by the following characters: body dark brown; presence of distinct vertical bands on the body; presence of pre-orbital spine; spinous part of dorsal fin originating at vertical through the level of or slightly behind the end of pectoral fin; head length 14.8-16.5 % SL; head depth 36.8-41.8 % HL; eye diameter 3.7-4.8 % HL; inter orbital width 10.0-10.9 % HL; body width 7.5-8.3 % SL; pre-dorsal length 22.2-26.1 % SL; height of dorsal fin 2.2-2.9 % SL; height of anal fin 1.7-2.6 %SL; pre-anal length 53.0-59.4 % SL; and 65-67 soft rays on anal fin (Ref. 97143).