Branchiostegus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, tilefishes, belonging to the family Malacanthidae.

[3] Here they create burrows in soft substrates in the comparatively deep waters of the continental shelf and slope.

[4] Branchiostegus tilefishes have a rectangular body shape with a square profile to the head.

The caudal fin is rounded, truncate, or double emarginate and sometimes has elongated tips.

Rafinesque put this name forward without explanation but he placed the genus in a subfamily of Lophionota, an unavailable name for a grouping which approximates to the currently recognised Coryphaenidae, in which he put dolphinfishes, sailfishes and many other marine fishes and which were distinguished by the possession of branchiostegal membranes.