Epinephelus akaara is a western Pacific species, where it occurs in southern Japan, Republic of Korea, Taiwan and southern China (Heemstra and Randall 1993). The species is also reported from the Gulf of Tonkin (Tseng and Ho 1988), making it likely that it also occurs in Viet Nam. The reported presence of the species in the Ogasawara Islands (Japan) is questionable (Randall et al. 1997).