Diagnosed from its congeners by the possession of the following characters: lips markedly thickened laterally, groove behind upper lop interrupted in middle; upper jaw not protrusible; 80- 100 pored lateral line scales in adults; 100-110 total scales in midlateral row; scales deeply embedded in skin; skin conspicuously thickened in adults, especially during spawning season when most scales become indistinct (they are relatively distinct in juveniles and small adults outside spawning season); scales narrowly to widely spaced, covering whole body; 19-26½ scale rows between lateral line and dorsal origin (Ref. 59043).