This species is distinguished from its congeners in Myanmar by the following characters: in life, with reddish cheek, series of up to 5 semicircular concentric maroon pectoral bands that are wider than interbands, series of 6-7 saddle-like blotches, orange subdistal and white distal rim on dorsal- and caudal fins; differs from C. stewartii by having fewer dorsal-fin rays 34-38 (vs. 39-41), and generally fewer anal-fin rays 23-25, rarely 22 or 26 (vs. 26-27); differs from C. burmanica by presence of pelvic fins (vs. absence); differs substantially from all Myanmar Gachua group snakeheads by a genetic distance of 12.9-18.5% in the COI gene (Ref. 131044).