This is the most common species of seagrass in the UAE. In the Arabian Gulf, there are large areas of this species in inshore areas and around most, if not all, islands in Abu Dhabi Emirate, from the Abu Dhabi Islands to Ra's Hanjurah, with a total area of c.55 km² estimated and representing c. 60% of seagrass bed content (EAD 2017); seagrass was found to be much more abundant in eastern Abu Dhabi, with the highest densities occurring north of Abu Dhabi Island around Al Samaliyah Island (EAD 2008). There is estimated to be around 4,000 km² of this species within Abu Dhabi Emirate (H.S. Das pers. comm. 2019). The species also occurs in Dubai Emirate, with records of extensive seagrass beds containing this species in the Jebel Ali area, particularly between Ras Hasyan and Ras Ghantoot, with their distribution primarily linked to areas of unconsolidated, deep sand (CBD 2016), and offshore from Jumeirah Beach. The species occurs eastwards to at least Umm Al Quwain. This species has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution. In the Pacific, it is found in southern Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, throughout the Gulf of Thailand and along the coast of Vietnam and southern China. It occurs throughout insular Southeast Asia, northeast to the Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia, and southeast to the Fiji Islands, as well as across northern Australia and the Great Barrier Reef. In the Indian Ocean, it is found from Geographe Bay in Western Australia extending across the Timor Sea, the south coast of Indonesia, and to the Andaman Sea and extending around the Bay of Bengal and around India to the Malabar Coast. It ranges from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, south to the east coast of South Africa to Madagascar and the islands of the western Indian Ocean.