This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following set of characters: presence of a uniformly dark-coloured body with pale mid-dorsal stripe; serrated posterior margin of the dorsal spine; absence of plicae on the ventral surfaces of the first pelvic-fin ray and the skin covering the pectoral spine; head length 23.6-27.0% SL; head width 19.2-21.4% SL; TAA without anteromedial striae or ridges extending to gular region and with caudally open triangular medial pit extending one-third to half TAA length; 7-10 serrations on posterior edge of pectoral spine; dorsal-fin spine length 12.2-15.6% SL; triangular anterior nuchal plate element without saddle-shaped lateral expansions of pterygiophores; pale spots only at lateral tips of nuchal plate elements; body depth at anus 14.0-17.4% SL; dorsal to adipose distance 23.6-28.1% SL; distally expanded neural spines of vertebrae between dorsal and adipose fins; length of adipose-fin base 14.1-17.7% SL; post-adipose distance 13.1-17.0% SL; caudal peduncle length 16.6-19.4% SL; caudal peduncle depth 8.0-9.8% SL; caudal-fin length 23.6-28.1% SL; and 35-37 vertebrae (Ref. 138194).