Indo-Pacific: Red Sea south to Natal, South Africa and east to the Marquesan and Tuamoto islands, north to southern Japan, south to the southern Great Barrier Reef and New Caledonia.

Body brown; head banded; fins brown. Capable of changing color to pale bluish overall. Behind eye a yellow area and 2 yellow bands extending anterior from eye. A single, sharp, forward-pointing erectile spine which folds down into a horizontal groove on each side of the caudal peduncle; spine in white sheath. Gill rakers 13-15 in both anterior and posterior rows. Scales minute.

Inhabit steep slopes, often in turbid waters, generally in the vicinity of coral reefs.