The royal dottyback is a very small marine fish that measures a maximum of 2.75 inches in length. The royal dottyback is a bicolored fish with a purple-violet front part and a yellow rear part of its body.

The royal dottyback is found in the western Pacific Ocean, particularly in Indonesia, including the islands of Java and Sulawesi, and as far as the archipelagos of Vanuatu and Palau in Micronesia.

The royal dottyback is a solitary and territorial fish that rarely ventures into open water outside of its shelter, which it has found within coral reefs.

The royal dottyback primarily feeds on plankton and small crustaceans.