This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: a wide black asymmetrical spot covering base of caudal-fin rays, extending along entire length of caudal-fin rays 9 to 12-13 (except H. surinamensis); a black band in the lower half of the caudal peduncle from the region above the last anal-fin rays to the caudal-fin base; 4-5 scale rows below lateral line (vs. 5-9) except from H. mikrostiktos and H. surinamensis (Ref. 75799); differs from H. mikrostiktos by the number of branched anal-fin rays (24-30 vs. 18-21), and from H. surinamensis by the number of scale sheath along anal-fin base (17-22 vs. 12-17), and by the number of cusps in the inner row of the premaxilla teeth (5-7 vs. 4-5) (Ref. 85819).