Even on very shallow water (less than 0.5 meters) you will find fish in the sandy areas. Often they have hardly any colors, some of the species are silvery or pale, but it may also be some of the fish, that you see on the reef in brighter colors. Many of them are able to become more pale in their colors, when they go to feed in the sandy part to be less visible.
If you see goatfish looking for food, you will quite often see other species follow, that try to take advantage of very sensitive goatfish organs – the long barbels – with which they find the invertebrate animals hiding in the sand.
I have often seen Smallscale mojarra, lyretail hogfish, spangled emperor small trevallies, wrasses, or smooth cornetfish tagging along, hoping for a quick meal.
The blue triggerfish is often solitary and if it is not occupied trying to avoid you, then you may see it vertically with the mouth down in the sand busy blowing sand away to find its prey.