Brown to gray with dark-edged pale spots and florets, large diffuse black blotch on the mid-rear body, eyes are about 1 eye length apart and the lower eye nearly allgns with the upper eye. Males have elongated pectoral fin rays.

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Indo-Pacific: throughout the Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf to Hawaiian, Marquesan, and Society islands, north to southern Japan, south to Lord Howe Island. Record from the eastern Mediterranean incorrect. Inhabits sandy or silty sand, and muddy bottoms of inner reef flats and seaward reefs; juveniles frequently found in tide pools. It lives in a depth range of 3-250 meters.

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