Yellowtail amberjack is a circumglobal species found in subtropical and temperate waters, in the Indo-Pacific, South Africa, and the Eastern Atlantic. 

In southern Africa, recent research indicates a clear genetic and phenotypic separation between yellowtail from South African shelf waters, the Vema seamount in the Atlantic, and the Walters Shoal seamount in the Indian Ocean (Kerwath et al. 2021).