Smith with the type locality given as Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

[3] The specific name minor means "small", a reference to its being smaller than Hypomacrus africanus, now regarded as a junior synonym of S. albaiensis, which Smith described at the same time.

The overall colour is brownish with darker mottled bars on the body, the darkest on the caudal peduncle.

[5] This species attains a maximum published total length of 5.2 cm (2.0 in).

It is found in the southwestern Indian Ocean off Mozambique, with a single record from Tanzania, and in the western Pacific Ocean where it is more widespread and occurs from Indonesia east to French Polynesia, north to Japan and south to Australia.