Ziebell's handfish was first formally described in 2009 by the Australian zoologists Peter R. Last and Daniel C. Gledhill, its type locality being given as the Actaeon Islands in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel off Tasmania,[2] when they described three new species within the new genus Brachiopsilus.

Its specific name honours the professional scuba diver Allan Ziebell who collected the type specimens while abalone fishing.

It has a bulging head with small eyes and a wide mouth which has fleshy lips which show folds in their skin.

[9] Ziebell's handfish is little known, it is thought that its diet is made up of small invertebrates, like crustaceans and worms.

The females lay egg masses close to sponges and on hatching the young fish, not larvae.