Body silvery pink with longitudinal red stripes; head red with silvery reflections on the cheek and opercle; spinous dorsal pink (or light red) with submarginal dark red band, the membranes tipped in white; other fins red to yellowish red, with the upper and lower edges of the caudal fin darker red; leading edges of anal and pelvic fins white with a submarginal darker red band, base of pectoral fins darker red (Ref. 4201 and 27370). Four oblique scale rows on cheek; body depth 2.6-2.9 in SL; head length (HL) 2.6-2.85 in SL; snout length 3.45-3.95 in HL; mouth often terminal; maxilla extending to between verticals just short of front of the pupil and just about center of the eye, upper jaw length 2.45-2.6 in HL; premaxillary groove reaching to a vertical at front edge of the orbit; anterior end of nasal bone with 2 short diverging spines; surface and medial margin of nasal bone spineless; moderately large nasal fossa often spineless on margin (an 11.8 cm SL specimen from Comoros, ROM 56585, has 2 spinules on the edge of the fossa, one on each side; a 9.4 cm, FMNH 17947, has a small spinule on one side on the edge of the fossa); upper edge of suborbital bones uniformly serrate; preopercular spine about 2/3 orbit diameter, 3.8-4.7 in HL; opercular spines 2, the lower from 2/3 as long to nearly as long as upper spine; short dorsal spines, 3rd to 5th dorsal spines subequal, 4th usually longest, 2.25-2.7 in HL; 3rd anal spine 1.25-1.6 in HL (Ref. 27370).