Distinguished from all its congeners by the combination of the following characters: anal fin with 11½-13½ branched rays; 46-53 small scales on the total pored lateral line; total vertebrae usually 40 (20+20 and 21+19) or 41 (21+20 and 20+21); deep caudal peduncle (depth 43-48% body depth at dorsal fin origin); usually a mostly or completely scaleless ventral keel; mouth with a curved and only slightly slanted cleft and a produced fleshy snout; interorbital width 1.3-1.5 times the eye diameter; weakly ossified preethmoid; depressed and considerably expanded anterior tip of the basihyal, a unique feature among species of Alburnoides from western Europe (Ref. 85842).