The large-scaled gurnard was first formally described as Trigla cavillone in 1801 by the French naturalist Bernard Germain Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède with the type locality given as the Mediterranean Sea.

[4] The specific name cavillone was the common name for this fish along France's southern coast and derives from caville or cheville both of which mean "peg" or "plug".

[3] The large scaled gurnard is found in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean from Portugal south to Mauritania.

[7] The large-scaled gurnard is caught as a bycatch but trawlers and is usually discarded as the fish are rather small.

It is frequently sold in fish markets in the western Mediterranean, Cyprus and Turkey.