Pterygotrigla arabica was first formally described as Trigla arabica in 1888 by the Belgian-born British ichthyologist George Albert Boulenger with its type locality given as Muscat on the Gulf of Oman.

The mouth is terminal and has small villiform teeth on the jaws, mandibles, premaxilla and vomer.

The overall colour is red with irregular black spots on the head, upper body and soft rayed dorsal fin.

It is found in the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman and along the Bay of Bengal coast of India as far north as the southern part of West Bengal.

[5] The habitat preferences of this species are little known but the gurnards in the genus Pterygotrigla typically live in deep benthic habitats along the edges of the continental shelf and upper continental slope.