Violet rather than orange, and restricted to the western Pacific.
To about 12 cm and violet-purple throughout, with a yellow stripe along the back in females and a yellow-edged snout and elongated dorsal spine in males. Males also develop a red patch on the upper lip. It is a western Pacific species and does not overlap with the very similar Pseudanthias pascalus, which is generally deeper and lacks the yellow dorsal stripe in the female.
It occurs in aggregations on current-swept slopes and walls, often mixed with scalefin anthias but generally a little deeper and further off the reef. Like all anthias it feeds on zooplankton in the water column and shelters in coral when disturbed. Photographs are easier against a wall than in open water, because the fish will not hold still and the background gives something to focus on. Recorded from about 5 to 40 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.
