Cephalopholis fulva occurs in the western Atlantic Ocean from South Carolina and Bermuda to the Bahamas and into the Gulf of Mexico where it is found in Florida from the Florida Keys as far north as Cedar Key, Florida and the Flower Garden Banks. In the west of the Gulf of Mexico it is found from Tuxpan in Mexico south along the coast of the northern Yucatan Peninsula and off northwestern Cuba. It also occurs throughout the Caribbean Sea and along the northern coast of South America, with a gap in the region of the Amazon Delta, to southern Brazil, It is also found around the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, St. Paul's Rocks and Trindade Island.
