Diagnosis: head width usually less than 2/3 of standard length, snout length more than 0.9 times the head width in adults (less in juveniles); hind margin of adipose fin rounded; premaxillary dentition forming (in adults) two close-set oval plates; maxillary barbel often blackish and only rarely reaching to anterior margin of opercule; 8-12 (usually 10 or 11) gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch; palatine membrane with multiple invaginations, 1-4 of them forming longer lobes; dorsal margin of cleithral process ending in a point (visible only in adults)(Ref. 57126).

Description: body rather deep, a little less robust than Auchenoglanis biscutatus (body depth comprised 4.5-5 times in standard length); occipital process broad, rounded, contiguous to first nuchal plate, the ratio width/length 0.9 (juveniles) to 1.6 (adults); dorsal fin with 2 spines, the first small, the second strong and denticulate; adipose fin large, increasing in height backwards, its posterior margin rounded; palatine membrane with many well differentiated lobes; dorsal process of cleithrum with an upward-directed point (visible only in adults); premaxillary dentition forming a small band in juveniles (twice as long as broad), developing with growth into 2 close-set, kidney-shaped plates, the entire band being 1.0-1.3 times as long as large; head less broad (width 59-64% of length in juveniles and 61-68% in adults), snout short (48-55% of head length) in juveniles, but elongate (57-63% of head length) in adults; nasal barbels absent; pelvic fin with 1 unbranched and 5 branched soft rays (Ref. 57126). Anal fin with 3-4 unbranched and 7-8 branched soft rays (Ref. 681).

Coloration: body marbled in juveniles, with 7-8 transverse series of black spots, uniformly brown in adults; fins also marbled in juveniles; uniformly brownish, sometimes with large, rounded, poorly defined, dark brown spots in adults (Ref. 57126).