The adults have the posterior half of the body covered by a matrix of crisscrossing lines, becoming yellowish-green in the tail.

The juveniles have a brownish black background colour broken by 6 vertical vivid yellow bands that start on the face and finish at the caudal peduncle,[5] between the yellow bars there are parallel blue bars.

[3] Pomacanthus zonipectus occurs in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Puerto Peñasco, in the northern Gulf of California of Mexico south to Peru.

[1] This species is diurnal, it feeds on food items taken from the substrate, mainly sponges but including tunicates, algae, bryozoans, hydroids and the eggs of fish.

The adults are found in pairs which range widely over therefore while the solitary juveniles are territorial.