This species is distinguished from its congeners in the Pseudojuloides elongatus complex by the following characters: no median predorsal scales and corner of mouth with a large canine tooth; shares overlapping or nearly overlapping meristic counts and morphometric proportions with P. elongatus, P. crux, but differs in having males bright yellowish orange to orange-pink, the upper body strongly overlain in black, and with 3-5 rows of metallic blue spots, while females are unmarked and are reddish orange to brick red (Ref. 123183).