It is endemic to the coastal waters of western and southern Australia where it occurs at depths of from 5 to 80 metres (16 to 262 ft).

The Red Indian fish was first formally described in 1844 by the Scottish naval surgeon, Arctic explorer and naturalist John Richardson with the type locality given as Southern Australia.

[4] A recent study placed the Australian prowfishes into an expanded stonefish clade, Synanceiidae, because all of these fish have a lachrymal sabre that can project a switch-blade-like mechanism out from underneath their eye.

[5][6] The name of the genus Pataecus is derived from Pataikos, a strangely shaped dwarf-like Phoenician deity which was used as a figurehead on the prows of ships,.

[7] The Red Indian fish has an elongated, highly compressed body which is deepest towards the head, wedge-shaped with the thinnest part being the caudal peduncle.

The relatively small eyes are placed high on the head and the mouth is oblique with tiny teeth on the jaws.

[8] The Red Indian fish's common name derives from the long, high dorsal fin beginning on the head which resembles the headdress of a Native American chief as seen in popular Western films.