The adults have an overall colour of brownish-yellow on the body and the median fins, with vivid blue spots.

Along the flanks there are 6 vertical bands, the first is whitish and is placed immediately behind the head, the following 5 are black.

[1] it is found in coastal, lagoon and outer reef slopes with the adults living in pairs or as solitary individuals where there is a rich growth of corals.

[5] The sixbar angelfish was first formally described as Holacanthus sexstriatus in 1831 by the French anatomist Georges Cuvier (1769–1832) with the type locality given as Java.

[7] The sixbar angelfish is occasionally collected for the aquarium trade but only the juveniles are suitable for home aquaria because the adults are too large.