Its range extends from East Africa and the Red Sea through Indonesia and northern Australia to Japan, the Philippines and various Pacific island groups.

[1] It occupies a variety of reef habitats at depths between 3 and 20 m (10 and 66 ft), but avoids turbid water.

[3] Researchers found that where spionid worms had bored into heads of Astreopora myriophthalma, the areas surrounding their colonies had benefited; the researchers suggested that the faeces from the worms had provided extra nutrients for the coral's symbiotic zooxanthellae, and their increased photosynthetic activity had increased tissue growth in the coral in the immediate vicinity.

[7] Astreopora myriophthalma is the most common species of coral in its genus and has a widespread distribution in the tropical and sub-tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Climate change and ocean acidification are also likely to be threats going forward, and be associated with increased bleaching events and greater incidence of coral diseases as well as man-made hazards such as pollution, sedimentation, damage from fisheries and tourism.