The scaly gurnard was first formally described in 1872 by the English-born New Zealand scientist Frederick Wollaston Hutton with its type locality given as Wellington Harbour.

[1] The specific name brachyoptera is a compound of brachys, meaning "short", and ptera, which means "finned", thought to be an allusion to the shorter pectoral fin filaments in comparison to other then described species from the genus Lepidotrigla.

[2] The scaly gurnard has a body which is covered with large scales that are firmly attached to the skin.

[3] The species was reported from the Kermadec Islands but this has proven to be the closely related L. robinsi which was described in 1997.

[5] It was sighted and photographed in the type locality of Wellington Harbour in January 2023.