This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: slender head and snout, only slightly bell-shaped in dorsoventral view without distinct lateral indention (vs. distinctly bell-shaped snouts with a strong lateral indention anterior to outer nostrils); has broader claspers in adult males, the base width 2.1% TL (vs. 1.51.8% TL of congeners in the western Indian Ocean); further differs from B. clevai by having a smaller maximum size and a color pattern of fewer and smaller blotches, larger oral papillae, a shorter snout, and broader claspers without knob-like apex and with a smaller envelope and a subtriangular (vs. subrectangular) exorhipidion; differs from B. hispidus by having a longer snout, a longer dorsal-caudal space, broader clasper without knob-like apex, and fewer vertebral centra; differs from B. lutarius by having a smaller maximum size and has a blotched (vs. largely plain) coloration, numerous (vs. lacking) oral papillae, shorter anterior nasal flaps, a longer caudal fin, a shorter pelvic anal space, and shorter and broader claspers (Ref. 104913).