Peristedion cataphractum was first formally described as Trigla cataphracta in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae with its type locality given as the Mediterranean Sea of southern France.

[3] In 1801 the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède described a new species and genus when he described Peristedion marmalat, from the Mediterranean Sea and the Moluccas.

[2] Peristedion cataphractum is found in the eastern Atlantic from the British Isles, although it is rare north of the Bay of Biscay, south to Angola and throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

[1] Peristedion cataphractum is a bycatch of semi industrial and artisanal fisheries with bottom trawl nets in the Mediterranean, here it is usually discarded.

Despite this the species is regularly recorded in Spanish fish markets, as well as those of the Tyrrhenian Sea and Sicily where it may be sold fresh or chilled.