In the western Indian Ocean its range extends from the Red Sea off Jordan to South Africa, and it has been recorded from the Seychelles, Aldabra, Réunion, Mozambique and Pemba in Tanzania.

[3] The striated wrasse is a solitary and secretive benthopelagic wrasse which is found on the seaward slopes of reefs among patches of rubble or branching corals at depths of 6–40 metres (20–131 ft), or more, but it is infrequent at depths of less than 20 metres (66 ft).

It is an oviparous species which shows pairing during spawning[3] and in Japan breeding is thought to occur in the summer.

[1] Pseudocheilinus evanidus was first formally described in 1903 by David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann, the holotype was collected from Henshaw's pool near Hilo on Hawaii Island.

[4] Straited wrasse are collected as food by Sea Gypsies in some parts of Thailand and it is also used in the aquarium trade.