Description: lower head profile straight and almost horizontal (Ref. 40899). Shallow lachrymal bone and cheek; oral jaw teeth closely set, unicuspid or weakly bicuspid and sharp, even in small specimens; relatively big eye (Ref. 55954)

Coloration: melanin pattern of 12 vertical bars of which the 5th and 9th are the most intensely colored (Ref. 40899). Occasionally, the median parts of these stripes may be somewhat enlarged giving the fish a vague blotchy appearance; however, the vertical stripes remain clearly present and the blotches are not arranged in an oblique line nor do they appear as the three-blotched state typical for Stigmatochromis (Ref. 55954).