Superficially, this owl somewhat resembles the Eurasian eagle-owl but is paler and has relatively broad and ragged ear tufts which hang slightly to the side. The upperparts are buff-brown and heavily streaked with darker brown coloration. The underparts are a paler buffish brown and less heavily streaked. The throat is white. The iris is yellow (whereas the Eurasian eagle-owl typically has an orange iris). The Eurasian eagle-owl and Blakiston's fish owl both occur in the Russian Far East and are potentially could compete for resources, although no scientifically observed interactions of any kind have been reported between these two largest owl species. It is likely, given the sizeable gap between the dietary preferences of the species (mainly aquatic animals in the Blakiston's, mainly upland, terrestrial species in the eagle-owl) that competition for food is not normally a serious problem. Identification of the Blakiston's from other fish owls is not an issue as there is a gap of distribution of approximately between the ranges of the Blakiston's and the tawny fish owl ("B. flavipes") and about separates the range of the Blakiston's and the brown fish owl ("B. zeylonensis"). Improbably, early naturalist thought that the Blakiston's and brown fish owls belonged to the same species. The streaking on the underside of the Brown and Blakiston's are similar and their songs sound more similar to each other than they do with the two songs of the other two species of fish owl.