The spiny icefish was first formally described in 1914 by the English ichthyologist Charles Tate Regan with the type locality given as McMurdo Sound in Antarctica.

There are stripes on the second dorsal fin formed by a series of small, dark spots.

[5] The spiny icefish is native to the Southern Ocean where it occurs in a circum-Antarctic distribution, with the northernmost records from the South Orkney Islands.

A study in the Ross Sea in 1984 found Pleuragramma antarcticum and the krill species Euphasia crystallorphias in the stomachs of specimens collected.

[5] In the Scotia Sea region, juveniles and subadults of this species are often caught together with krill (one of their major prey items) in late January and February.

This species spawns in the austral summer and lays large eggs of up to 4.9 mm diameter.