The overall colour is yellowish to pale pink marked with 6 interrupted, golden stripes on the flanks, the side of the snout and the cheek have a pair of blue-edged golden stripes while the crownhas a series of yellow chevrons pointing towards the snout.

It occurs along the eastern African coast in Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa, in the Red Sea and across the Indian Ocean, excluding the Arabian Sea into the Pacific where its range extends east as far as Samoa, north to Japan and south to Australia.

[1] It is a deepwater demersal species[2] which is found at depths between 40 and 245 m (131 and 804 ft) over hard, rocky and bumpy substrates.

[1] Pristipomoides multidens a sociable species which forms schools where the sea bed is hard, rocky and uneven in the vicinity of steep drop-offs.

This flesh is considered excellent eating and is frequently found in fish markets albeit normally in small amounts.