In 1830 the anonymous author, thought to be Edward Turner Bennett, of the section on zoological specimens in Memoir of the life and public services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles described a new species, Monotaxis indica, and placed it in a new monospecific genus Monotaxis.

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

[2] Its overall colour is silvery-greyish with thin dark margins on each scale and a large black blotch on the axil of the pectoral fin.

They have a black bar running through the eyes and a reddish band along the outer part of the lobes of the caudal fin.

In the Pacific Ocean it extends as far east as the Hawaiian Islands, north to southern Japan and south to Australia.

[9] This species has been found to be a host for the parasites Haliotrema angulocirrus, Proctoeces hawaiiensis, Pseudoplagioporus labiatus, Pycnadenoides pagrosomi and Transversotrema lacerta.