This species is shares with T. truncata, presence of a large black axine starting from approximately mid-body with dorsal apex near dorsal-fin origin, ventral apex near pelvic-fin origin, and caudal apex near caudal-fin base. It differs from all its congeners in the following set of characters: a

steep sloping lateral head to pre-dorsal region (shared with T. espei, vs. a gentle sloping lateral profile from posterior of head to predorsal region for T. truncata, T. hengeli, T. somphongsi); terminal mouth (shared with all except truncata with a sub-superior mouth); caudal apex of axine

reaching caudal-fin base (shared with all except truncata with caudal apex not reaching); dorsal and ventral apices of axine originate near to both dorsal-fin and pelvic-fin origins (shared with truncata vs. dorsal apex starting up to 3 scale-width posterior to dorsal-fin origin and ventral apex starting two scale-width after pelvic-fin origin in espei, hengeli, while axine is reduced to thick black stripe in somphongsi); dorsal fin with distinct orange/red pigments shared with truncata, espei (vs. hengeli, somphongsi with almost hyaline dorsal fin) (Ref. 122370).