This species is distinguished by its white pigmentation with three transversal black bands; caudal fin bilobate and with a grey to blackish blotch at the caudal fin (vs. generally entirely white of its Pacific-Ocean sister-species Dascyllus aruanus); differs from D. aruanus by its cytochrome b gene sequence: nucleotide sites nos. 450, 459 and 702 of the gene (diagnostic between the two species) and at these three sites, D. abudafur has the triplet (A, T, T) whereas D. aruanus has (G, C, C) (Ref. 119133).