There is normally dark vertical barring on the body but this may be restricted to a small patch to the rear of the gill cover, and in rarely it may be absent.

Males have a vivid blue margin to the soft rayed part of the dorsal and anal fins.

[1] Centropyge shepardi is a common species within its range where it is found at depths of 10 to 56 metres (33 to 184 ft).

[1] This oviparous species is a broadcast spawner, spawning is thought to start in September and takes lace at dusk.

[2] Centropyge shepardi was first formally described in 1979 by John Ernest Randall (1924-2020) and Fujio Yasuda with the type locality given as the western side of Cocos Island in Guam.