It can be distinguished from other members of the genus by the following characters: dark longitudinal stripe on body, extending from eye to caudal peduncle; scattered tubercles present on lower jaw; 14½-16½ branched anal-fin rays; pelvic-fin long, reaching beyond anus.

This species is traded under several names including ‘royal danio’, ‘blue-spotted hill trout’, and ‘blue-dotted mirror fish’.

It can be distinguished from congeners by possessing a single row of bluish-green spots along the length of the body, white margins on the dorsal and anal fins, 37-38+1 lateral line scales, and fleshy rudi…

Engmann (1909) mentions that the type series was collected from ‘Malakka’ but this is considered an error which probably should have read ‘Kerala’ since this species is known only from coastal drainages of the Western Ghats mountains in southern Kerala state, India.