Male with bright orange/red stripe extending from eye to pectoral fin base, yellow body, third dorsal spine greatly elongate, sometimes pinkish tinge to head, tailfin with blue trim. Female yellow with indistinct yellow stripe from eye to pectoral fin and yellow stripes on upper and lower tail lobes. Juveniles same colouration as females but with green eyes. Very similar to P. squamipinnis (Orange Basslet) but male has facial stripe continuing onto base of pectoral fin rather than a spot at outer edge of the pectoral fin, and female has yellow, rather than purple, outer eye. Length to 12 cm/male 6cm/female.

• Max Size: 12 cm
• Sea Temperature Range: 27.6-30.8°C
• Depth: 1-20m
• Habitat: Coral Reef
• Habitat Generalisation Index: 3.3
  Also referred to as the SGI (Species generalisation index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here

• Threats: Climate change/warming, Habitat degradation
• IUCN Threat Status: Not Evaluated
• Occurrence: Frequent (13% of sites)
  Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
• Abundance: Large aggregations (387 per transect)
  Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.