Here it is found in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and along the coast of eastern Africa as far south as Zanzibar.

[5] It has been recorded, as a probable release of aquarium specimens, on a few occasions off the eastern coast of Florida[4] and from Malta.

[1] It is a common species where there are relatively sheltered inshore reefs which have rich growth of soft and hard corals with a few patches of silty seabed.

[2] It is a solitary and shy fish that divers find difficult to approach and it is normally recorded near caves or crevices in the reef.

[7] Pomacanthus asfur had its first formal described published in 1775 by the Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius (1745–1808) but it has commonly been attributed to Finnish born Swede Peter Forsskål (1732–1763) the type locality is given as Al-Luhayya, Yemen.