This species occurs in tropical shallow waters of the western Atlantic from Bermuda and southern Florida (USA) to the state of Sao Paulo in southern Brazil (Gomon 2006). The extent of occurrence is estimated to be 26,970 km² based on area of coral reefs in the Caribbean and the east coast of Brazil, which is highly likely to be an overestimation due to the patchiness of the Spanish Hogfish’s distribution.

There is one doubtful record of B. rufus in St. Helena (Central South Atlantic) dating back to 1965 (Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences accessed 2008), probably based on a misidentification.

Its extent of occurrence is estimated to be 26,960 km² based on the area of coral reefs in the western Atlantic region (25,960 km² in the Carribean (Burke and Maiden 2004), and 1,000 km² in the Southern Atlantic (Spalding and Grenfel 1997). This is based on the assumption that the species is present on all reefs in the Caribbean and the east coast of Brazil, it is highly likely to be an overestimation since distribution of local population density is uneven and not all areas may be habited.