[1] It also occurs on the Great Barrier Reef with juveniles reaching as far south as Sydney.

[1] Here can be found on the outward slopes of reefs and on drop offs where there is a strong current.

When the females are receptive to mating the males display to them, swimming on their sides and vibrating their fins.

[5] Genicanthus watanabei was first formally described in 1970 by the Japanese ichthyologists Fujio Yasuda and Yoshiaki Tominaga with the type locality given as Onna Beach on Okinawa.

[6] The specific name honours the Japanese ichthyologist Masao Watanabe of Waseda University in Tokyo, who originally collected this fish but identified it as Genicanthus caudovittatus.