Knifejaws are typically distributed in the Indian and Western Pacific Ocean, near southern parts of the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, China, Japan, and Hawaii.

Early on, the teeth begin to form a thick layer of enamel that protects the tooth from sustaining damage easily.

[4] The fused teeth resembling a beak, enable the spotted knifejaw to prey on hard-shelled organism such as clams, sea urchins, and oysters.

[5] Though there is limited research on specifics regarding dietary habits of the spotted knifejaw, past studies were known to suggest that they were primarily carnivorous fish due to their unique teeth structure.

[3] Given that their geographic distribution is a vast, their prey preference tends to mirror the different aquatic environments they are in with a correlation in crustaceans and zooplankton as well as phytoplankton.

[5] More research is needed in those separate aquatic environments to distinguish between one another and have a more concrete dietary evolution specific to a region of Spotted knifejaws.

[7] Prevalent in the cool Northwestern water of Hawai'i, the spotted knifejaws have been reported to reach up to 710 mm (28 in) in length.

[6] From November to March of each year, there is water flowing along the Vietnam coast approaching the Peninsular Malaysia centering at 5°N, at a location where there is cold-water inflow making it a suitable rocky habitat and plenty of drifting seaweed for juveniles to attach to.

There is high value in industrial recirculation of aquaculture systems and become the poster fish for stock enhancement and release in marine ranching.

[10] There have been several reported outbreaks due to the consumption of this fish caught from the Mainland around the Pacific coast and they were often caused by mature spotted knifejaws.