Gold brown above, with irregular, indistinct marbling and scattered black dots; dorsally densely dusted with iridocytes. A dark blotch marks the trunk-tail junction dorsally. Flanks darker than dorsum and marbled. Three diffuse dark areas are present on the lateral face: a streak from the eye to the oral disc, a patch below the eye, and one posterior to the eye; often an additional patch is present laterally in the gill region. On the lower head and lower flanks, the dense iridocyte layer dissolves into irregular light patches. Ventral skin mostly unpigmented and transparent. Iridocytes and melanocytes are scattered in the gular, buccal, branchial, and anterior abdominal regions. Body coloration continues onto the dorsal tail, becoming lighter and fading distally. The distal fourth of the muscular tail often shows an orange or reddish tint. Laterally, the tail bears several large, irregular, partially fused polygonal blotches, mostly covering the muscular portion but in some cases extending into the fins. Numerous distinct, rosette-like white clusters of iridocytes cover the tail and tail fins.