It is found in shallow waters in the tropical Indo-Pacific on reefs, resting on coral heads much of the time.

The arc-eye hawkfish was first formally described in 1829 as Cirrhites arcatus by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier with the type locality given as Mauritius.

[3] The specific name arcatus means “arched”, an allusion which Cuvier did not explain but it may refer to the horseshoe shaped mark behind the eye.

It has a smooth upper preopercular margin and a slightly rounded to truncate caudal fin.

Its range extends from is from East Africa from southern Somalia to South Africa eastwards across the Indian Ocean into the Pacific Ocean east to the Hawaiian Islands and Pitcairn Islands, north to Japan and south to Australia.