Horizontal black stripes and spotted fins; found hanging under the same overhang for years.
To about 72 cm, white with six or seven black horizontal stripes, yellow fins spotted in black and thick pale lips. Juveniles are brown with large white blotches and swim with an exaggerated rolling motion that appears to mimic a toxic flatworm; they look nothing like the adult and are usually logged separately. The similar Plectorhinchus lineatus has oblique rather than horizontal stripes.
Adults hang in loose groups under overhangs and beside large coral heads through the day, often at the same spot over long periods, and feed on benthic invertebrates over sand and rubble at night. Because they hold position they are among the more straightforward large reef fish to photograph, though they drift steadily backwards as a diver approaches and are best worked from a fixed distance. Recorded from about 3 to 35 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.