| Main Ref. | Ng, H.H. and M. Kottelat, 2013 |
| Appearance refers to | |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks | Males have elongate genital papilla reaching to origin of anal fin. Anus separated from genital appendages of both sexes by 4.1-7.9% SL. |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | fusiform / normal |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | sub-terminal/inferior |
| Type of scales | |
| Diagnosis |
The following characters distinguished this species from all members of the Hemibagrus planiceps species group: dorsal to adipose distance 7.6-10.9% SL (vs. 10.6-17.6); adpressed dorsal fin reaching (vs. not reaching the origin of the adipose fin) and (except for H. bongan and H. planiceps) adipose-fin base 18.8-20.4% SL (vs. 11.1-17.9). Can be further distinguished from H. bongan in having body depth at anus 12.2-13.6% SL (vs. 9.5-12.9), and from H. divaricatus in having maximum height of adipose fin 4.1-6.0 times in length of base (vs. 1.9-3.2) and eye diameter 17-19% HL (vs. 11-17). Differs further differs from H. gracilis in having caudal peduncle depth 7.3-8.1% SL (vs. 6.2-7.6) and vertebrae 49-50 (vs. 50-52) and H. planiceps in having interorbital distance 30-32% HL (vs. 32-37) and vertebrae 49-50 (vs. 47-49) (Ref. 93057). |
| Ease of Identification |
| Lateral Lines | Interrupted: No |
| Scales on lateral line | |
| Pored lateral line scales | |
| Scales in lateral series | |
| Scale rows above lateral line | |
| Scale rows below lateral line | |
| Scales around caudal peduncle | |
| Barbels | 8 |
| Gill clefts (sharks/rays only) | |
| Gill rakers | |
| on lower limb | |
| on upper limb | |
| total | 17 - 20 |
| Vertebrae | |
| preanal | |
| total | 49 - 50 |
| Attributes | |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | 2 - 2 |
| Soft-rays total | 7 - 7 |
| Adipose fin | absent |
| Attributes | forked |
| Fins number | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total | 12 - 13 |
| Pectoral | Attributes |
| Spines 1 | |
| Soft-rays 8 - 9 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes |
| Position abdominal behind origin of D1 | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays 6 - 6 |