[1] Individuals of B. pectinirostris are predominantly greenish-grey in colour, with prominent sky blue speckles across their body, including their fins and on the skin below their eyes.

Larger mucous cells are distributed throughout all regions of the epidermis except the fins and the sucking disc, located in between dermal bulges.

The specific epithet is a compound Latin form, taken from pecten ('comb, rake') and rostrum ('beak'), and likely refers to the incised teeth of the fish's mandible, which it uses to scrape its food off the surface of the ground when on land.

[5] Boleophthalmus pectinirostris can be found in Peninsular and eastern Malaysia, Sumatra (Indonesia), China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, living in warm tropical and sub-tropical estuaries.

[2] Like other mudskippers, B. pectinirostris is able to move on land, using its pectoral and pelvic fins to clamber over the surface of tidal flats in its habitat at low tide.

[1] During high tide, the night, or when its predators are present, the fish retreats into a burrow, dug to a depth of approximately 1 metre (3.3 ft) below the surface, becoming active again during the day or when the threat has passed.

[6] Boleophthalmus pectinirostris in Funing Bay, Fujian, China also constructs mud walls around the entrance of their burrows in the winter, creating a shallow walled pool that maintains a relatively consistent temperature, maintains a microphytobenthos (e.g. diatoms) population for food, keeps other fish out, and prevents tides from moving the sediment around and in their burrows.

[7] Great blue mudskippers are territorial,[7] and males will fight with others of their species over access to burrows and during the breeding season, signalling their aggression by raising their large dorsal fins.

B. pectinirostris's recovery is believed to be the result of improved water quality, reduced fishing of the species due to a lower demand, and implementation of conservation measures.