It is the only Ctenochaetus whose dorsal and anal fins end in an angle. Adults are plain tan-brown, with orange to golden-yellow edges on the dorsal and anal fins, a pale lunate tail (white according to FishBase and the Oregon Coast Aquarium, bluish according to LiveAquaria), small golden flecks above the eyes and a golden half-circle below. Juveniles have a forked tail and a tan colour with yellow, blue and white highlights; from 7 cm they already show the orange edges and white tail. The lips have papillate margins.
It lives alone or in small groups along steep, coral-rich drop-offs on coasts sheltered from swell, at 0–45 m (usually 3–25 m). It ranges from Malaysia and Indonesia to the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the northern Great Barrier Reef, the Solomon Islands, Palau, Vanuatu and Fiji, and has been recorded from Tonga.
Its comb-like teeth scrape sand and rock, and it sucks in the mix of diatoms, small algae, organic matter and fine sediment. Like other Ctenochaetus, it has a thick-walled stomach that helps digest this mix, and in doing so it recycles reef detritus. Like other surgeonfish, it carries a spine on each side of the tail that it uses in defence.
It spawns by releasing eggs and sperm into open water; the larvae drift with the currents before settling on the reef. Breeding in aquariums is not reliably documented. Its recorded lifespan reaches 20 years.
