[2] This species occurs in beds of seagrass and areas of inner reefs and shallow lagoons where there is a substrate consisting of mixed sand, rubble, and algae.

It is found in small groups which swim over large areas down as deep as 20 metres (66 ft).

[1] The range of this species extends from the Red Sea southwards along the eastern coast of Africa to Algoa Bay in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and eastwards to the Marshall and Tuamotu islands, it also extends north to Honshu and south to New South Wales.

[2] This species was first formally described as Julis strigiventer in 1833 by the English zoologist Edward Turner Bennett (1797-1836) with the type locality given as Mauritius.

[4] When Albert Günther created the genus Stethojulis he designated Julis strigiventer as the type species.