Distinguished from all its congeners except Neblinichthys echinasusby the following characters: lacking odontodes on the opercle (rarely one odontode present, vs. the exposed

portion of the opercle completely covered in odontodes); completely lacking the iris operculum (vs. iris operculum small or at least the dorsal rim of the pupil straight); internares width/head length ratio (5.0-8.5% vs. 7.6-15.5%); presence of irregular gray spots and vermiculations on the abdomen of adults (vs. no markings). Differs from Neblinichthys roraima by having one to two preadipose plates (vs. more than four); and from Neblinichthys echinasus by a smaller dorsalfin base length/SL ratio (18.1-22.8% vs. 24.3-27.0%), a larger dorsal-anal distance/SL ratio (13.7-18.3% vs. 11.9-12.5%), by having the snout decreasing in steep arc just anterior to eyes and then flattening in area anterior of nares (vs. snout tapering shallowly and continuously from eyes to snout tip), and by having the adpressed dorsal fin not reaching the anterior preadipose plate (vs. reaching anterior preadipose plate) (Ref. 85178).