Blue to brownish in color and darker spots dorsally, silver to whitish ventrally; juveniles with vertical bars on body and small black pelvic fins.

[4] The blue butterfish is a pelagic fish, usually found in depths of 10–70 m (33–230 ft).

[5] It mainly lives in the Atlantic Ocean and is widely distributed in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, specifically in the Bay of Biscay, the Mediterranean, southward of the cape of good hope, and South Africa.

This fish is part of the trophic guild, planktotrophic, which means that they have a long pelagic larval stage and feed on their prey while suspended in the water column.

Names of blue butterfish in other languages as follows: Bukla (Albanian), Ψευτολίτσα (Pseftolitsa) (Greek), Palometa fiatola (Spanish), Fieto (Italian), Blauer Butterfisch (German), Żuwak fiatola (Polish), Pampo-godinho (Portuguese), Фиатола (Fiatola) (Russian), Plotica morska (Serbian, Croatian), Figa (Slovenian), Yıldız balığı (Turkish), Fiatole (French).