Genus Pempheris

Sweepers have a deep body that tapers strongly posteriorly, mainly on the ventral side. They have a short snout, a strongly oblique mouth, a protrusible upper jaw, and numerous long gill rakers - specialisations for feeding on zooplankton. They also have an inner layer of small scales and an outer layer of much larger scales, with the lateral line scales forming part of the inner layer, but not completely covered by the large outer scales. The dorsal fin is short-based and pointed, and the anal fin is very long and low.
Sweepers are mostly nocturnal, usually sheltering in the reef during the day, emerging to feed at night (Randall & Bineesh 2014).