This genus can be distinguished from all other Loricariids by the presences of a dorsal ridge formed by plates between the dorsal fin and the caudal fin, the absence of the adipose fin, as well as the absence of the omega iris that most loricariids possess. Corymbophanes species do not have evertible cheek plates and do not hypertrophied cheek odontodes which are present in many other loricariid species, which differentiates it from the few species that possess the aforementioned ridge.
This genus can be distinguished from all other Loricariids by the presence of a dorsal ridge formed by plates between the dorsal fin and the caudal fin, the absence of the adipose fin, as well as the absence of the omega iris that most loricariids possess. Corymbophanes species are characterized by non-evertible cheek plates and reduced cheek odontodes.