It has prominent yellow lips and the upper part of the body is marked with a large number of broken, diagonal black stripes.

with continued growth the wide brown bars on the lower flanks break up into spots, which shrink farther as the fish grows.

Typically nocturnal, they forage on open areas of sand and in beds of sea grass for benthic invertebrates during the night and resting during the day.

[6] Its specific name lineatus means "lined", presumably referring to many dark bars on body, horizontal on juveniles and subadults, diagonal on adults.

[7] Plectorhinchus lineatus is caught using handlines and spear with the catch being sold fresh, although a small amount is preserved by salting.