The streaked gurnard was first formally described as Trigla lastoviza in 1788 by the French naturalist Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre with the type locality given as Split, Croatia.

[5] The streaked gurnard has a large triangular, bony head which bears many ridges and spines and with a deep occipital groove.

The body is covered in clear, oblique ridges of skin starting on the lateral line.

[7] The maximum published total length of this species is 40 cm (16 in), although 15 cm (5.9 in) is more typical/[2] The streaked gurnard is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from southern Norway and Scotland to the Cape of Good Hope and round coast of South Africa into the southwestern Indian Ocean as far north as Mozambique.

It is regularly appears in fish markets in the western Mediterranean, Adriatic and Cyprus, infrequently elsewhere.