The bannerfish that occurs in dozens rather than pairs, and it is a facultative cleaner.
To about 21 cm, white with two broad black bars, a yellow dorsal and tail and a long white dorsal filament — very close to the longfin bannerfish. The differences are a shorter and blunter snout, a slightly shorter filament, a black area on the chest that reaches the pelvic fin base, and, practically, the behaviour: this species forms mid-water aggregations of tens to hundreds while the longfin bannerfish is in pairs on the reef.
It feeds on zooplankton in the water column over slopes and drop-offs. Juveniles and some adults clean parasites from larger fish, and a school over a cleaning area will work over passing surgeonfish and jacks. It is a species of current-exposed reef and is far less numerous on sheltered muck slopes. Recorded from about 5 to 45 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.