Pempheris vanicolensis has a compressed body which is deepest at the origin of the dorsal fin, before it tapers markedly towards the tail, mainly on the ventral side, with a narrow caudal peduncle.

The distribution of P. vanikolensis sensu stricto is from the Andaman Sea east through the Malay Archipelago to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands where the type specimen was collected at Vanikoro.

[1] Pempheris vanicolensis occurs in shallow water, normally no deeper than 100m, in tropical and subtropical seas often on coral reefs.

[5] Pempheris vanicolensis was named in 1831 by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier from specimens collected in Vanikoro in the south west Pacific Ocean.

It was thought to have a wide distribution from the Red Sea to the Solomon Islands and even into the Mediterranean as a Lessepsian migrant but recent work has shown that it does not occur in the Red Sea and that records of this species in the western Indian Ocean are misidentifications of related species.