Oblique yellow-black stripes and spotted fins; groups hold the same overhang for years.
To about 72 cm, white to pale yellow with oblique dark stripes running up and back across the body, yellow fins spotted in black and thick pale lips. The oblique angle of the stripes is the separation from the oriental sweetlips, whose stripes run horizontally. Juveniles are brown with large white blotches and swim with an exaggerated roll.
Groups of five to thirty hang under overhangs and beside large coral heads through the day, generally facing into the current, and disperse at night to feed on invertebrates over sand. The groups are site-faithful, so a known overhang is a reliable place to return to. They hold position for a slow approach and are among the more straightforward large reef fish to photograph as a group. Recorded from about 3 to 35 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.