The Japanese bigeye is found in the western Pacific. Specifically, it is found in the marine waters around: Japan, the East China Sea Shelf, Taiwan, South China Sea, Vietnam, Celebes, Australia, and Indonesia.[2]
Iwatsuki, Y., T. Matsuda, W.C. Starnes, T. Nakabo and T. Yoshino. (2012). "A valid priacanthid species, Pristigenys refulgens (Valenciennes 1862), and a redescription of P. niphonia (Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes 1829) in the Indo-West Pacific (Perciformes: Priacanthidae)". Zootaxa 3206:41-57.
Starnes, W.C. (1988). "Revision, phylogeny and biogeographic comments on the circumtropical marine percoid fish family Priacanthidae." Bull. Mar. Sci. 43(2):117-203.