Indo-West Pacific: Red Sea to Natal, South Africa (including Madagascar and the Comoro and Reunion islands); Gulf of Aden and the Persian Gulf eastward to Samoa, north to the Ryukyu Islands, south to Australia; Caroline and Mariana islands in Micronesia.

Plain grey with dusky margins on fins and gills when adult. Juveniles brown to near black, mimicking leaves floating in surface waters.

Found in coastal reefs, sandbanks, and near estuaries. Enter freshwater. Small juveniles occur along sheltered sandy shorelines where they mimic a dead leaf by drifting on their sides. Adults mainly in protected inshore reefs to deep offshore, sometimes swims in small groups.