Acanthurus fowleri was first formally described in 1951 by the Dutch ichthyologist Lieven Ferdinand de Beaufort with its type localities given as Buika Island off Sulawesi in Indonesia, Maitara and Gomomo Islands in the Philippines.

[3] Acanthurus fowleri has a specific name honouring the American biologist Henry Weed Fowler of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences who originally reported this species but misidentified it as Hepatus pyroferus.

[4] Acanthurus fowleri has its dorsal fin supported by 9 spines and between 26 and 28 soft rays while the anal fin is supported by 3 spines and 25 to 26 soft rays.

The caudal fin is blackish in the middle with each lobe having a yellow band merging with a white band at the base of the fin and the rear margin has a thin blue stripe..[5] The main colour on the body is bluish-grey.

They are found in water deeper then 20 m (66 ft) over outer reef slopes.