The body is covered in large scales which are weakly attached to the skin.

[2] In colour this is a pale to dark purplish-brown species, it can be silvery on the belly.

It has 8–10 darker horizontal stripes along the flanks, and dark coloured fins.

During the day it forms schools below ledges and within caves, leaving these at night to actively feed.

[2] Pempheris multiradiatus was first formally described by Carl Benjamin Klunzinger in 1879 with the type locality given as King George Sound in Western Australia.