The eyes and the lips are yellowish while the inside of the mouth is bright red and the chin is white.

Its range extends from the west coast of India to the Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, New Guinea and east as far as the Solomon Islands south to north-western Australia.

The adults prefer deep slopes which are exposed to currents where there is a rich growth of benthic invertebrates.

[2] The ribboned sweetlips was first formally described as Diagramma polytaenia in 1853 by the Dutch ichthyologist, herpetologist and physician Pieter Bleeker with the type locality given as Makassar on Sulawesi in Indonesia.

[5] The specific name, polytaenia means "many banded", a reference to the bold striped pattern of adults.