Yellow lines over the back and a white bar below; abundant on rubble and easy to name.
To about 25 cm, white-grey below and darker above, with two curved yellow lines running from the snout over the eye and along the back, a broad white bar low on the flank and a yellow-edged tail. Juveniles are black and yellow striped and look nothing like the adult; intermediate fish carry parts of both.
It works rubble, sand and reef edges for small invertebrates, alone or in twos and threes, resting on the bottom between short moves. It is one of the more numerous mid-sized fish on the rubble margins of muck sites, and is easily approached. The spinecheek name refers to a backward-pointing spine below the eye, present in the family. Recorded from about 1 to 30 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.