 The yellowstripe scad is the only member of the monotypic genus "Selaroides", one of around thirty genera in the jack and horse mackerel family Carangidae, which in turn is part of the order Carangiformes.The yellowstripe scad was first scientifically described by the famed French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1833 based on the holotype specimen taken from the waters of Java, Indonesia.He named the species "Caranx leptolepis", with the specific epithet derived from Greek, meaning 'thin scales'.