Indo-West Pacific: western India to Philippines, north to southern Japan (Honshu), south to northern Australia. 'Epinephelus formosus' from Madagascar, Réunion and Mauritius are probably based on misidentifications of Cephalopholis polleni. Confused with Cephalopholis boenak.

Like C. boenak, it prefers shallow dead or silty reefs and this may account for the primarily continental distributions of these two species.