Dark blue-black with a broad yellow band across the middle. A Red Sea and Arabian species that occurs almost nowhere else.
To about 40 cm, dark blue-black over the front two thirds with a broad bright yellow band across the middle of the body and a yellow tail. Nothing else in the Red Sea carries that pattern, and it is unmistakable once seen. Juveniles are dark with pale vertical bars, as in the rest of the genus.
It is a Red Sea and Arabian species and occurs almost nowhere else, which is part of why the Red Sea has the reputation it does — a high proportion of its reef fish are found there and in no other sea. It feeds on sponge and algae and holds a territory, usually singly or in pairs, on coral reef and along drop-offs. It is wary of divers, keeps a coral head between itself and a camera, and is one of the harder common fish to photograph well for exactly that reason.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.