Presence of this species is confirmed within the United Arab Emirates marine territorial waters (Soorae et al. 2006, 2010; Buzás et al. 2018). It is found in both the Arabian Gulf and in the Gulf of Oman. Breeding has been confirmed in the waters off the east coast (Géczy et al. 2017, Buzás et al. 2018). On the east coast, it is found from 2.7-9.7 km offshore (Géczy et al. 2017, Buzás et al. 2018). The depth range is not certain, but likely to be found to c.45 m depth along the east coast. Museum records are available for the UAE in the Al Mayya Sanctuary, Fujairah. Recent museum specimens include those from Muscat, Oman (Boulenger 1887), Arabian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz (Gasperetti 1988). The first museum specimens for the region were collected in Dubai and Sharjah (Arabian Gulf, UAE) by M.D. Gallagher in 1972 (Gasperetii 1988).Globally, this species is found in the Arabian Gulf eastwards to India and Sri Lanka (Culotta and Pickwell 1993, Heatwole 1999), and to the west coast of peninsular Thailand, Melanesia and Singapore (Rasmussen et al. 2010).