Shortfin Mako is a coastal, oceanic species occurring from the surface to at least 500 m depth and is widespread in temperate and tropical waters of all oceans from about 50°N (up to 60°N in the northeast Atlantic) to 50°S. It is occasionally found close inshore where the continental shelf is narrow. It is not normally found in waters below 16°C (Compagno 2001).

Summary of range
Western Atlantic: Grand Banks (Canada) to Uruguay and northern Argentina, including Bermuda, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. Eastern Atlantic: Norway, British Isles and Mediterranean to Morocco, Azores, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Côte d?Ivoire, Ghana, southern Angola, probably Namibia, and South Africa (west coast).

Indo-West Pacific: South Africa (east coast), Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius and Kenya north to Red Sea and east to Maldives, Iran, Oman, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Viet Nam, China, Taiwan (Province of China), North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia (Primorskiyi Kray), Australia (all states and entire coast except for Arafura Sea, Gulf of Carpentaria and Torres Strait), New Zealand (including Norfolk Island), New Caledonia, Fiji. Central Pacific: From south of Aleutian Islands to Society Islands, including Hawaiian Islands. Eastern Pacific: USA (Southern California and exceptionally Washington), south to Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru and central Chile.

In addition to the distribution given in Compagno (2001), Shortfin Mako may also occur from 20?50° between Australia and Chile, and to almost 60° Southeast of New Zealand (Yatsu 1995, M. Francis pers. comm. 2006).

Atlantic
Casey and Kohler (1992) suggest that the core distribution in the western north Atlantic is between 20?40°N, bordered by the Gulf Stream in the west and the mid-Atlantic ridge in the east (see Habitat and Ecology section for more details). Shortfin Mako in Atlantic Canadian waters represent the margins of the distribution of the population (Campana et al. 2005). In the eastern North Atlantic, it is presumed that the Strait of Gibraltar is nursery (Buencuerpo et al. 1998 and Tudela et al. 2005).

The area between 17° to 35°S off the coast of Brazil is an area of birth, growth and mating (Amorim et al. 1998). Pregnant females with near term embryos have been found there, but not females in early pregnancy stages (Costa et al. 1995, Costa 1994). The presence of this species in Uruguayan waters year round has been confirmed by the observers on board the Uruguayan tuna fleet. Although a few new borns were captured, no pregnant females have been found (Domingo pers. comm. 2008).

Mediterranean
Highest abundance is reported in the western Mediterranean and mako are rarely reported in eastern waters (Aegean Sea and Sea of Marmara). Recent investigations suggest that the western basin is a nursery area (Buencuerpo et al. 1998). It is possible that this nursery area is from the eastern central Atlantic population, which is affected by the swordfish longline fishery off the western coast of Africa and Iberian peninsula. Two Shortfin Makos a few months old were reported in the western Ligurian Sea as bycatch of the swordfish longline fishery (Orsi Relini and Garibaldi 2002). They are not reported from the Black Sea. In the eastern Adriatic Sea, Shortfin Makos were reported as common a century ago (Katuri 1893 and Kosi 1903), recent publications consider it to be rare (Mili?i? 1994, Jardas 1996). Soldo and Jardas (2002) report that there have been no records of Shortfin Mako in the eastern Adriatic since 1972.

Eastern North Pacific
There are comparatively few records of pregnant females, especially in the eastern north Pacific. However, there are a large number of juveniles and young of the year fish in the southern California Bight indicating that it is a nursery area. In summer, the Southern California Bight is home to a large population of Shortfin Mako sharks (Klimley et al. 2002, Holts and Kohin 2003). Abundance surveys and fishing reports indicate that juvenile mako sharks appear in the Bight in spring when water temperatures rise above 16°C and may depart from the area in fall when water temperatures decline.