Cobitis obtusirostra differs from other species of Cobitis by the combination of following characteristers: mental lobes undeveloped, with pointed tips; slightly large scales, prolonged, with a slightly large, excentric and closer to the base focal area, and 26-33 radial grooves; males possess a cystiform lamina circularis, and a sharp and nearly filamentous tip of the pectoral-fin ray; five Gambetta pigment lines, L2 showing a row of irregularly minute spots that merged into a band, the thickness of which was reduced towards the end of the dorsal fin; L5 with 8-10 rounded blotches; and a conspicuous jet-black arcuate spot, smaller than the eye diameter on the upper part of the caudal peduncle (Ref. 118058).