It is the only extant species of Cookeolus,[1] except for C. spinolacrymatus, an extinct Late Pliocene fish known from a fossil specimen collected in Okinawa, Japan.

In the Indo-Pacific its distribution extends from South Africa to Japan to Australia, in the eastern Pacific from Mexico to Peru, in the West Atlantic from Canada to Argentina, and at Saint Helena in the South Atlantic.

[3] Common names for the fish include longfinned bullseye, deepwater bullseye, big-fin bigeye (English), buloog (Afrikaans), deek (Arabic), baga-baga (Cebuano), bukaw-bukaw (Hiligaynon), siga (Tagalog), beauclaire longue aile (French), chikame-kintoki (Japanese), fura-vasos alfonsim (Mozambican Portuguese), and catalufa aleta larga (Spanish).

[3] Fish of this family are known for their thick scales and large eyes, which take up about half the length of the head.

The membranes between the dorsal spines may be slightly darkened to totally black, and the long pelvic fins may be quite dark.