Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to the Hawaiian Islands and French Polynesia, north to southern Japan, south to the Great Barrier Reef and New Caledonia.

Pectoral fin rays usually 18; back arched; with about 45 vertical scale rows; lachrymal bone with 2 or 3 spines over maxillary, first points forward, followed by 1 or by 2 close-set spines which point down and back; suborbital ridge with 4 or more spinous points, usually more than 8 or 10 points, not in a row and of various sizes; a shallow pit below front corner of eye. Colorful inside the pectoral fins, used for display.

Relatively an uncommon inhabitant of rubble or weedy coralline-rock bottoms of reef flats and lagoon and seaward reefs.