[3] The specific name, johnii, honours the German naturalist Christoph Samuel John (1747–1813), who was a missionary in India from 1771 until his death and who collected specimens for Bloch at the Danish colony of Tranquebar.

There is a sizeable black blotch below the front of the soft rayed part of the dorsal fin which is mostly above the lateral line,[2] although this may be absent in adults.

It occurs from the eastern African coast where it ranges from the southern Red Sea to South Africa, across the Indian Ocean into the Pacific as far as Fiji.

[2] Lutjanus johnii is a predatory species which preys on fishes and benthic invertebrates such as crustaceans and cephalopods.

The large adults school in turbid waters around hard substrates in silty and sandy coastal and offshore areas.