This leatherjacket species is commonly found in seagrass beds, or Jetty pylons with dense algal growth. Males are a dark black/blue or brown and distinguished by the patch of long bristles towards the rear of their body, which is said to resemble a toothbrush. Females are very similar to both A. brownii and A. spilomelanurus, greenish-brown with white spots. Females can be distinguished from A. brownii by the lack of blue spots and stripes, and from A. spilomelanurus, to which it is remarkably similar, by the lack of dark spots, which are interspersed with the white ones in that species.
