Acanthocepola is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cepolidae, the bandfishes.

[2] The genus was first formally described in 1874 by the Dutch physician and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker who designated Cepola krusensternii, which had been described by Coenraad Jacob Temminck & Hermann Schlegel in 1845, as the type species, although the genus was also monotypic.

[3] There are currently four recognized species in this genus:[4] Acanthocepola bandfishes are similar to Cepola bandfishes, in that they have the last ray of the dorsal and anal fins connected to the caudal fin by a membrane.

[5] Acanthocepola bandfishes are found in the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans, from the coast of Eastern Africa east to the Western Central Pacific, north to Japan and south to Australia.

[4] They create burrows in flat areas of sand and mud substrates, feeding on zooplankton.