This species is distinguished by the following characters: predorsal midline no scales; fifth pelvic-fin ray unbranched; cheek with 6 papillae in row c; at least some inner pectoral-fin rays are branched; second spine of first dorsal fin extending posteriorly only to interspace between two fins; an interorbital trench that fades out between fifth and sixth papillae of row p. Colouration: no red bars across body; when alive, head with three blue stripes, one dorsal midline, second from top of orbit to near upper lip, and third across dorsal margin of preoperculum, lower part of iris, and across lips meeting counterpart at ventral midline, the intervening area on head red dorsally grading to yellow and light purplish ventrally, and body with many melanophores on a dirty yellow background; when preserved, blue lines on head are black (Ref. 131294).