A small dark tang with a bristle patch by the tail; abundant on rubble and coral edges.
To about 20 cm, disc-shaped, dark brown at the rear grading paler and yellower towards the head, finely speckled and lined, with a patch of stiff white bristles on the caudal peduncle in males. The fins are tall but nothing like those of the sailfin tang. Juveniles are yellower and can be mistaken for young yellow tangs, which do not occur in this region.
It grazes algae over coral and rubble and is among the most numerous fish on many slopes here, often in loose groups of five to twenty that move as a front across the reef. It is unbothered by divers at a few metres. Recorded from about 2 m to 55 m.
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.