[3] The blotched foxface (S. unimaculatus) differs from S. vulpinus in possessing a large black spot below the soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin.

It is sympatric and not phylogenetically distinct, and though these two might be recently evolved species, they may be just colour morphs and should arguably to be united under the scientific name S. vulpinus.

[4] The specific name vulpinus means "fox-like", Schlegel and Müller did not explain what this alluded to but it is thought to be the pointed snout.

[5] The foxface rabbitfish has a compressed body which has a depth which fits into its standard length 1.9 to 2.4 times.

[7] The foxface rabbitfish occurs in the far eastern Indian Ocean and in the western Pacific from Indonesia to the Marshall and Gilbert Islands north as far as Taiwan and south to New Caledonia and Australia.

Juveniles and subadults may sometimes form large schools, feeding on algae growing on the bases of Acropora corals.