This species schools in shallow, coastal waters to 40 m depth (Woodland 1984). It usually observed on rocky and sandy seaweed bottoms (Carpenter et al. 1997a), in and around the mouths of rivers in turbulent waters (Woodland 2001), and on hard-bottom structures (E. Abdulqader pers. comm. 2014). School size decreases with age, and juveniles often occur in very large schools in shallow bays and coral reef flats. This species feeds by scraping algae from rocks and corals, and to a lesser extent on seagrasses (Woodland 1984, 2001). The maximum total length is 30 cm (Randall 1995). Spawning appears to be synchronized with the lunar cycle and it is a multiple spawner (Hoque et al. 1999). Longevity is estimated as 7.8 years off UAE and mean size and age at first sexual maturity are 21.5 cm fork length and 1.9 years for males and 25.7 cm and 2.1 years for females (Grandcourt et al. 2007). When applying an age at first reproduction of 2 years and longevity of 8 years, its estimated generation length is 5 years based on the following equation recommended by the IUCN Red List methods: Age at first reproduction + (Age at last reproduction -“ age at first reproduction)/2.