Generally brown to chocolate brown dorsally. On head and trunk, no well-defined pattern is present, rather diffuse lighter and darker areas occur. In lateral view, the lower face of the head and lower flanks appear more translucent, ranging from brown to gray, with dense horizontally oriented dashes of silver iridocytes. Ventral skin translucent, finely hatched with vermiculate melanocytes; red gills visible through the skin. Abdomen covered with a silver-gold sheet, median line absent; gut coil indistinct but visible in ventral and lateral views. Body background color continues onto the tail, with sharply defined dark blotches on the proximal muscular part of the tail and dorsal tail fin, less pronounced on the proximal lower fin. In the distal half of the tail, dark markings may fuse to form a large dark area. Other populations with less pronounced dark markings may indicate high variability. Tail and tail fins bear scattered patches of iridocytes.