Fabricius based his description on the notes of Peter Forsskål who had died while on an expedition, which Neibuhr was also a member of, to Arabia.

The family Lethrinidae is classified by the 5th edition of Fishes of the World as belonging to the order Spariformes.

There are occasionally pale blue dots around each nostril and bordering the lower rim of the eyes.

[2] Lethrinus harak has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution occurring along the eastern coast of Africa from the northern Red Sea south to South Africa, the islands of the western Indian Ocean, the Madives, Sri Lanka and southern India.

It is then found from the Andmana Sea and Indo-Malayan Archipelago into the Pacific Ocean as far east as Samoa, north to Japan and soyth to northeastern Australia.

[1] Lethrinus harak eats crustaceans, molluscs, polychaetes, echinoderms and small fishes.