[1] When the American ichthyologist Theodore Nicholas Gill initially described the genus Chirodactylus in 1962 he included Cheilodactylus antonii as its type species, this was later shown to be a synonym for C.

The overall colour of the body is greyish, darker dorsally and shading to blackish on the flanks and the belly is pale with a reddish tint.

[3] In a survey of the inhabitants of these kelp forests, there was found to be a wide diversity of molluscs and crustaceans, with the sea urchin Tetrapygus niger and the gastropod Tegula tridentata being dominant.

The main carnivorous fish were the Peruvian morwong, the Chilean sandperch (Pinguipes chilensis), the Cape redfish (Sebastes capensis) and the sea chub Graus nigra.

[8] People of the Chinchorro culture who inhabited the arid coast of Chile some 3500 BP and built their culture around fishing, had sophisticated fishing equipment and their middens show abundant remains of C. variegatus, along with those of the clingfish Sicyases sanguineus, the Chilean sheepshead wrasse Semicossyphus darwini and Labrisomids.