This species is distinguished by the following characters: with three dorsal fins barely separated from each other, the first with a single thickened unsegmented ray, the second with small, unsegmented rays in a fleshy ridge that rises within a groove and the third with segmented rays in an elongate fin; with five prominent individual barbels, four on the snout and one at the tip of the lower jaw; differs from all its congeners by the following, third dorsal-fin rays 54-60, anal-fin rays 44-52, pectoral fin rays 21-23, total vertebrae 43-44; anal fin base short, its length 39.6-48% SL; first dorsal fin ray is moderately elongated, its length 15.8-27% HL, and with a wider interorbital space, 21.7-28% HL (Ref. 131626).