It is found in the tropical Pacific Ocean and was previously considered to have a much wider distribution but the recognition of new species has reduced this wide range.

Pseudojuloides cerasinus in their male or terminal phase has a distinctive blue mid-lateral stripe which is situated immediately above a yellow stripe and the posterior portion of the caudal fin is black,[3] edged with blue.

Females of all species in the genus Pseudojuloides tend to be orange or reddish in colour.

[2] The three Indian Ocean species P. xanthomos from Mauritius, P. polackorum from South Africa to Madagascar and P. kaleidos of the Maldives to the Greater Sundas were the first to be recognised while P. splendens from the western Pacific Ocean and P. polynesica of Polynesia were recognised more recently.

[5][3] Pseudojuloides cerasinus was originally described as Pseudojulis cerasina in 1904 by the American ichthyologist John Otterbein Snyder (1867-1943) with the type locality given as Honolulu.