Hemitaurichthys thompsoni is a medium-sized butterflyfish, the body is uniformly bluish grey in colour and it has the typical short snout and compressed body of species within the genus Hemitaurichthys.

[1] Hemitaurichthys thompsoni occurs on coral reefs where it is usually observed on the outer-reef, the fore-reef slopes and at drop-offs.

[3] It is an oviparous species and the male and female form pairs when breeding.

[2] Hemitaurichthys thompsoni was first formally described in 1923 by the American ichthyologist Henry Weed Fowler (1878-1965) with the type locality given as Honolulu Fish Market.

[7] Hemitaurichthys thompsoni is collected for the aquarium trade on a limited basis.