This species is sometimes confused any of several similar-looking fishes such as C. sychri or C. sp. C097.

While the former is a more elongate fish with a longer snout and quite easy to identify, C097 resembles C. atropersonatus more closely, despite being traded as C. sychri ‘longnose’. Its snout is longer than that of C. atropersonatus but shorter than that of C. sychri, and the dark spots on the body tend to be more well-defined and spaced out than in the other two.