Studies in the 21st Century appear to have shown that some other species in the genus Kyphosus are junior synonyms of this taxon.

Kyphosus vaigiensis has an elongate and oval-shaped body with a moderately emarginate caudal fin.

In the Pacific Ocean it is found from the western coast of the Americas west coast from Mexico to Panama and across the Pacific to Hawaii, Easter Island, Polynesia, Tahiti, Micronesia as far as Japan and Australia, with records from Hauraki Gulf in New Zealand.

In the Indian Ocean it occurs through to the Red Sea, eastern coast of Africa and off Madagascar.

[2] They tend to be solitary at higher latitudes and more social in the tropics where they will form mixed schools with K. bigibbus, K. cinerascens and K.