It occurs on coral reefs at depths from 2 to 50 m (6.6 to 164.0 ft), preferring to shelter in niches and caves.

[2] The eight-lined wrasse has an Indo-West Pacific distribution and is found from the Comoros and the Seychelles in the western Indian Ocean to Hawaii and Ducie Island, extending north to Yaeyama Islands in Japan and south to New Caledonia, in the Pacific Ocean.

[1] The eight-lined wrasse is a benthopelagic species which is found among rubble or live corals of seaward reefs, where it prefers areas where there are caves and crevices containing abundant invertebrate growth, They are found down to depths of at least 40 metres (130 ft).

[2] This is a solitary, diurnal species which takes shelter in cavities where it creates a mucus cocoon in which to sleep during the night, it is thought that this cocoon helps protect it from nocturnal predators by masking the scent of the sleeping fish.

[1] was first formally described by the American physiologist and histologist Oliver Peebles Jenkins (1850-1935) with the type locality being given as Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii.