This species is distinguished from all named congeners by colouration by the following characters: body and dorsal fin are brown, no dark vertical bars, pelvic fins are bright smoky blue and anal fin ranges from smoky blue to brown with smoky blue tones; lips are smoky blue and the iris is yellow; most similarly coloured, unbarred hamlets are H. randallorum, H. chlorurus, H. nigricans, H. atlahua, which differ most from H. affinis in the ground colour of the body (lighter (tan) in H. randallorum which also has large dark spots on the caudal peduncle and snout) and darker (black) in H. chlorurus, H. nigricans, H. atlahua, plus H. chlorurus has yellow pectoral and caudal fins (Ref. 125712).