This widely distributed species is common and abundant and occurs in a variety of nearshore habitats. Exploitation is not suspected to be causing a global decline approaching 30% at this time; therefore, it is listed as Least Concern.

This species is distributed from the Red Sea and East and South Africa to Palau, Yap, Tonga, and Samoa, Australia (Rockingham, Western Australia around the northern coast south to Bendalong, New South Wales, including offshore reefs of Western Australia, and reefs in the Coral Sea, Lord Howe Island, Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs, Norfolk Island, and Ashmore Reef) to Japan and South Korea, and in the Society Islands, French Polynesia (Kimura et al. 2009, Allen and Erdmann 2012, Bray 2020, Holleman 2022). It has also been recorded in the Mediterranean Sea as a non-native (Bray 2020). The depth range is 1-76 m (Bray 2020).

This species can be common and abundant. It is known from at least 1,732 museum specimens (GBIF online database accessed February 2023). In Nha Trang Bay, Vietnam, this species is caught in mass quantities in trawls (Prokofiev 2008).

This species is present in soft bottom and on coral reefs (Profokiev 2008) as well as in sand and seagrass areas (Allen and Erdmann 2012). It is found in coastal waters but also enters estuaries (Kimura et al. 2009). Adults are solitary or form small groups (Bray 2020) while juveniles often form dense ball-shaped schools (Kimura et al. 2009, Allen and Erdmann 2012). This species probes sandy areas in search of prey, which are mostly crustaceans, mollusks, polychaete worms, and fishes (Bray 2020). It has venomous serrate spines on its dorsal and pectoral fins that are dangerous (Kimura et al. 2009) and can inflict painful wounds (Bray 2020).

This species reproduces through external fertilization involving separate sexes (Bray 2020). Males construct a nest under rocks and large debris, females lay demersal eggs, and males guard eggs until these hatch (Bray 2020). For this species, Vijayakumaran (1997) estimated length at maturity at 15.9 cm, total mortality rate to be 2.3102, fishing mortality rate to be 0.6462, and longevity to be 2.19 years. The maximum total length is 35 cm (Bray 2020).

Exploitation may impact this species on a local level.

This species is fished across its distribution (Bray 2020). It is marketed fresh in local markets in Thailand and caught with beach seines, trawls and set nets (Kimura et al. 2009). It is caught by gill nets and bottom trawls in Myanmar (Psomadakis et al. 2020). In Pakistan, this species is caught in bottom trawls, seines, gill nets and cast nets (Psomadakis et al. 2015). This species is also a minor component of the marine ornamental trade (Bray 2020). In Australia, this species is caught as bycatch by recreational anglers (Bray 2020). It is targeted by artisanal fisheries in the Philippines with poison.

There are no species-specific conservation measures.