[3] In his 1987 review of the Caesionidae, Kent E. Carpenter placed this species within the subgenus Pisinnicaesio.

[5] Pterocaesio pisang has a fusiform and elongated body which is moderately laterally compressed.

It is found along the coast of East Africa from southern Somalia to Mozambique, with a seemingly isolated population around Socotra, but it is absent from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

It is an oviparous species which spawns by laying large numbers of small pelagic eggs.

[2] Pterocaesio pisang may be subjected to heavy pressure from fishing in some parts of its range, such as the Philippines, but elsewhere it is of much less importance to fisheries.