The common bluestripe snapper was first formally described in 1775 as Sciaena kasmira with no type locality given but it is considered likely to be the Red Sea.

[5] The bluestripe snapper is one of the most widespread species of the Lutjanidae, ranging from the coast of Egypt bordering the Red Sea, south to Madagascar and east to India, China, Southeast Asia, Australia, and a number of Pacific islands.

[8] The bluestripe snapper has a varied diet, feeding on fishes, shrimp, crabs, stomatopods, cephalopods and planktonic crustaceans, as well as plant and algal materials.

Spawning occurs throughout most of the year in lower latitudes, with peak activity reported for November and December in the Andaman Sea.

[9] Unlike many Pacific islands, Hawaii lacked any fish from the Serranidae or Lutjanidae families, so to increase recreational and commercial food fishing opportunities, and fill a perceived 'vacant ecological niche', collections of 11 species of snappers and groupers were imported from Mexico, Kiribati, the Marquesas Islands, and Moorea, and introduced to Hawaii.

[11] In the following years, fishers and ecologists raised concerns that the snapper would outcompete other fish for space and food, as well as prey upon them; scientific investigation has not found evidence to support these claims.

Snapper may be competitively dominant over native yellow-fin goatfish, Mulloidichthys vanicolensis, for sheltering space on the reef.

[12] The species has also failed to become important as a food fish and commercial resource for the islands because of low market prices.

Since 2008, Hawaii has conducted a series of spearfishing contests that targeted bluestripes, along with blue-spotted groupers and black tail snappers with the intent of removing these fish from Hawaiian waters.