The species has pelvic fins modified to create a sucker which is used for clinging to rocks or other hard surfaces.

[4] They are sexually dimorphic and the males show a purple spot, surrounded by yellow, immediately to the rear of their pectoral fin.

[2] D. bimaculata can be confused with the similar Apletodon dentatus, although the two-spotted clingfish extends much further north than the small-headed clingfish, and the best way to distinguish them is from their teeth,[3] which in this species are small and conical and grow in patches and there are no large canine teeth.

[6] Most commonly found in areas of rocky substrates, D. bimaculata is also frequently spotted in beds of seagrasses and bivalve banks, where there is an abundance of empty mollusc shells for the fish to shelter in.

[7] It was described as Cyclopterus bimaculatus in 1788 by Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre[8] and was designated as the type species of the genus Diplecogaster by Alec Fraser-Brunner in 1938.