Shallow sand and reef flats, a painted face, and a hole it always runs back to.
To about 25 cm, pale grey-brown above and white below, with a yellow band from the mouth to the pectoral base, blue and black bands running back from the eye, and a black-and-white barred patch on the rear flank crossed by three rows of black spines. The similar Rhinecanthus verrucosus has a large dark blotch on the belly and prefers slightly deeper rubble.
It lives on shallow sand and reef flats, keeps a burrow or crevice within its territory, and returns to it head-first when pressed. It feeds on almost anything in the sand — crustaceans, worms, molluscs, algae — and blows water at the substrate to expose it. Nesting fish defend a territory and will make close passes at a diver. Recorded from the surface to about 12 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.