Larimichthys crocea was first formally described as Sciaena crocea in 1846 by the Scottish naval surgeon, Arctic explorer and naturalist Sir John Richardson with its type locality given as "Canton, China".

[4] In 2011 specimens which were thought to be L. crocea were taken off Terengganu in eastern Peninsular Malaysia but these have now been classified as a separate valid species Larimichthys terengganui.

It generally thrives in temperate coastal waters and often also in brackish estuaries, and is found on muddy-sandy bottoms.

A new species of trypanosome, Trypanosoma larimichthysi Yang et al., 2025, was described in 2025 from fish collected in Fujian Province, China.

[13] The trypanosome infection had no effect on the growth, but induced pathological changes in the gills, liver, spleen and kidney.