Randall et al. (2008) summarized previous work on the genus and discussed the historical problems faced by taxonomists in distinguishing the species of Canthigaster. In addition to the uniformity of morphological characters among Canthigaster species, Randall et al. (2008) found a high degree of genetic uniformity within the genus. As noted by Randall et al. (2008), color pattern reigns as the primary character used to distinguish the known species of Canthigaster. Randall et al. (2008) described a new species and resurrected a species from synonymy, resulting in the recognition of 35 valid species.