Red with a dark bar behind the gill cover, hanging in groups in caves and under overhangs, often upside down against the roof.
To about 25 cm, common at 20. Reddish above paling to silver below with white edges to all the fins and red and white markings on the spinous dorsal. The constant mark is a dark brown vertical bar running from the gill opening down to the base of the pectoral fin.
It is the only soldierfish in the region, so that bar plus the blunt snout is enough. The squirrelfish it shares the reef with have pointed snouts and a long third anal spine.
Nought to two hundred metres, usually two to thirty-five, aggregating around reef by day and feeding on plankton at night. It is occasionally seen swimming upside down under ledges, which is worth watching for.
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.