The schoolmaster snapper was first formally described in 1792 as Perca apoda by the German physician, naturalist and taxonomist Johann Julius Walbaum with the type locality given as the Bahamas.

[3] Walbaum's description was based on an illustration which omitted the fish's pectoral fins, so he gave it the specific name apoda meaning "footless".

[6] This species has a protrusible upper jaw which is mostly covered by the cheek bone when the mouth is closed and both pairs of nostrils are simple holes.

The pectoral fins are longer than the distance from longest point of the snout to tail edge of preopercle, reaching the level of anus.

The lower sides and belly are lighter; there is no dark lateral spot below the anterior part of soft dorsal fin.

There are 8 narrow, light vertical bars on the side of the body which may be faded or absent in large adults.

A solid or broken blue line runs beneath the eye; it may also disappear with growth.

From the upper jaw to the tip of the fleshy opercle, the line is often broken into parts that resemble dashes and spots.

They reproduce by spawning in open water with both male and female fish releasing their gametes at the same time.

[9] The schoolmaster snapper is a slow growing, long lived species which has a maximum recorded age of 42 years.

The juveniles are common in mangroves and on shallow reefs which may be threatened by coastal development, as well as the impacts of climate change.

In some areas, minimum sizes and bag limits have been introduced to conserve the stocks of schoolmaster snapper.