Far east wrasse Pseudolabrus eoethinus (Richardson, 1846) was previously synonymized with a Japanese wrasse P. japonicus (Houttuyn, 1782). Due to their morphological similarities, there are taxonomic confusions with both, which results in erroneous records and misidentifications in taxonomy. A redescription of P. eoethinus was given based on the specimen collected from Fujian Province. Through the comparison of P. eoethinus and P. japonicus, we identified several clear characteristics to distinguish them. P.eoethinus can be distinguished from P. japonicus by (1) the surface of head with a darkly curve stripe extending from the margin of the upper jaw to the base of pectoral fin through the lower edge of eye (the stripe on the surface of head is straight, not up to the base of pectoral fin); (2) the muciferous canals on lateral line scale were formed of bifurcations thrice repeated (the bifurcated canals on each scale were more than thrice repeated); (3) predorsal scales 8 (predorsal scales 5); (4) dorsal spines without blotch (a dark blotch between third to sixth dorsal spines).