The bluetail unicornfish was first formally described in 1994 by the American ichthyologist John Ernest Randall with its type locality given as Dumaguete on Negros in the Philippines.

[4] The bluetail unicornfish has the specific name caeruleacauda and this means "blue tail", an allusion to its "most striking color feature", the blue caudal fin,[3] The bluetail unicornfish has its dorsal fin supported by 4 or 5 spines and 28 to 30 soft rays while the anal fin contains 2 spines and 29 soft rays.

The dorsal profile of the head between the upper lip and the intraorbital space is straight.

[5] The bluetail unicornfish is found in the western central Pacific in Indonesia, the Philippines and the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

[1] This species forms schools over steep seaward sloped, typically at depths in excess of 15 m (49 ft).