The blackspotted gurnard was first formally described in 1843 as Trigla hemisticta by Coenraad Jacob Temminck and Hermann Schlegel with the type locality given as Nagasaki in Japan.

[3] In 1907 David Starr Jordan and Edwin Chapin Starks proposed the monotypic genus Otohime for Trigla hemisticta and this is currently treated as a subgenus of the genus Pterygotrigla with the blackspotted gurnard as its type species.

The terminal mouth has villiform teeth on the jaws, premaxillae, dentaries and the head of the vomer.

[6] The pectoral fin has a black patch and crossed by an oblique line of white spots.

It ranges from Japan in the north, south through the China Seas to the Philippines and northern Australia.It has also been recorded from Bangladesh, India, Yemen and Oman.