Indo-Pacific: Red Sea to South Africa and eastward to Ducie in the Pitcairn Group, north to Japan, south to New South Wales and Lord Howe Island. Migration report from the eastern Mediterranean Sea may be based on Epinephelus coioides specimens.

Color of head and body pale greenish grey or brown with round dark spots that vary from dull orange-red to dark brown, centers darker than the edges. A large black blotch (or group of black spots) often visible on body at the base of last 4 dorsal-fin spines. Five sub vertical dark bars may be present on body. Dark spots on soft dorsal, caudal and anal fins of juveniles are so close that the pale interspaces form a white reticulum. 95-112 scales in longitudinal series. Scales on body ctenoid in juveniles, becoming cycloid in adults except the area beneath and posterior to pectoral fins. Pyloric caeca 16-18. Differs from E. corallicola and E. howlandi by its more elongate body and closer-set spots.

Prefers clear water areas on coral reefs; juveniles have been taken from reef flats and in tide pools, adults found in deeper waters. Solitary and common in lightly fished areas. Adults from Oceania almost exclusively feeds on fishes (holocentrids, mullid, and pomacentrid). In the Hong Kong live fish markets. Minimum depth reported taken from. Occasionally ciguatoxic.