Malacanthus brevirostris has a long and slender body, with a rounded head and a large, sharp spine in the centre of the gill cover.

There are two convergent black stripes, one each on the upper and lower lobes of the caudal fin.

It ranges from the Red Sea and the eastern coast of Africa to Hawaii and on to the western coasts of Panama and Colombia, extending north to Japan and south to the Austral Islands and Lord Howe Island.

They are largely found in barren and open areas of outer reef slope where they are typically encountered in pairs living on sand in a hole that they have excavated.

[2] Malacanthus brevirostris was first formally described in 1848 by the French zoologist Alphonse Guichenot with the type locality given as Madagascar.