This fish is very variable in colouring; it has whitish vertical stripes or patches on a usually brown background, and an irregular speckling of tiny spots.

The large eyes are surrounded by yellowish-green orbital rings and the cheeks often bear a spot of blue or brown above a white band.

Its range includes the Bahamas, and in the Caribbean Sea it extends from Grand Cayman in Hispaniola to Trinidad and Tobago, as well as from Belize to Panama.

[4] Its depth range is down to about 20 m (66 ft) and it tends not to be found on patch reefs, preferring limestone slopes.

[1] It is an ambush predator, remaining concealed in its lair with only its head projecting, until a copepod or other small invertebrate prey approaches.