Oregonichthys crameri can be distinguished by the following characters: caudal peduncle strongly tapering to very narrow; barbel small (sometimes absent) at corner of terminal mouth; rounded snout; dorsal-fin origin over or slightly behind pelvic-fin origin; breast fully scaled; lateral line complete with 35-39 scales; 7 anal-fin rays; pharyngeal teeth 1,4-4,1; body compressed and deepest at dorsal-fin origin; and color consists of olive-tan above, green-brown stripe along back in front of dorsal fin, clusters of large brown-black spots scattered over back and silver side giving salt-and -pepper appearance, darkly outlined scales on back, lines of brown specks on lower side (Ref. 86798).