Pale with three dark blotches, working sand with a pair of chin barbels it tastes with. Other fish follow it to take what it turns up.
To about 30 cm, common at 22. Pale with three large blackish blotches on the upper side beneath the dorsal fins, dorsal scales edged reddish or yellowish-brown each with a central pale blue spot, and diagonal light blue lines on the head.
Those three blotches separate it from the yellow goatfish, which has a single yellow stripe.
Nought to ninety metres, usually the top thirty-five, on sand and rock in reef areas, with juveniles on seagrass. It changes to a pattern of large red blotches in under a minute, usually when it settles. It digs sand with the barbels, and wrasses and jacks commonly shadow a feeding fish to take what it flushes out.
Ciguatera is reported.
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.