Naso minor was first formally described in 1966 by the South African ichthyologist James Leonard Brierley Smith with its type locality given as Pinda Reef in Mozambique.

There is a single bony plate on each side of the caudal peduncle and this has a large keel and a forward pointing spine.

In the Western Pacific Ocean it has been recorded from eastern Indonesia and the Philippines north to Taiwan, south to Australia and east to Guam.

[1] In Australia it is found from the northern Great Barrier Reef south to the waters off Cairns.

[2] Naso minor feeds on zooplankton in the water column at depths between 8 and 40 m (26 and 131 ft)[1] and close to reefs.