 The yellowspotted trevally predominantly inhabits inshore lagoons and rocky or coral reef systems, although is occasionally found in seagrass meadows, around offshore islands and on deep sand banks to depths around 100 m. It is intolerant of low salinities, so does not enter estuaries.The yellowspotted trevally lives either alone or in large schools, with smaller groups often patrolling the edges of reefs in search of food and large solitary fish are known to patrol seagrass beds in search of prey.The species' diet consists of small fish such as anchovies, a wide range of crustaceans, including swimming crabs, mantis shrimp, and prawns, and cephalopods such as squid.