At dusk, they leave the caves to forage in the open water. At dawn, they retreat to their daytime refuge. Feeds chiefly on planktonic crustaceans and, to a lesser extent, on polychaets. Diameter of riped oocytes 0.5-0.7 mm. Eggs and larvae planktonic.
Juveniles live in small groups of fish of similar size.
Upon reaching 9 cm, they join adults schools. This fish experienced a population explosion almost immediately after invading the Mediterranean. Due to its relatively small size it has almost no importance in local fishery. Some observations on the habitat of the Red Sea immigrant Sweeper, Pempheris vanicolensis , on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Golani D. and Diamant A., 1991.