The blue and gold snapper was first formally described in 1846 as Diacope viridis by the French zoologist Achille Valenciennes with the type locality given as the Galápagos Islands.

[2] The overall colour of this fish is bright yellow on the body, although this can be dark, with five black-margined blue stripes along the flanks.

[5] The blue and gold snapper occasionally gathers in large daytime aggregations on rocky or coral reefs.

[1] At night this species forages for crabs, molluscs, cephalopods, shrimp, and small fish and they normally seek shelter during the day.

[5] The blue and gold snapper is an important target species for subsistence fisheries, they catch it with hooks and lines.