This species, a member of the Gachua group, is distinguished from all other Myanmar species of this group by its colour pattern consisting of oblique reddish saddle-like markings and lines (vs. different colour pattern); differ from C. burmanica, which occurs in the same area, by having pelvic fins (vs absence). It also differs from all Myanmar Gachua group snakeheads by the genetic distance of 3.5–19.9% in the COI gene (Ref. 131044).