This species is typically found in shallow water on the back reef. It occurs in the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean Sea. It is recorded from Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Colombia, Cost Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Haita, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, St. Barthelemy, St. Kitts and Nevis, Venezuela, Virgin Islands and Florida U.S.A.
In Panama this species has been collected from Portobelo (USNM E 11404); Corenero Cay, Bocas Del Toro (USNM E 26745); Fox Bay, Colon (USNM 39001); Corgetupo Island (USNM E 23194), Miria Island (USNM E 24629), and Pico Feo Island (USNM E 23195; Centroid Latitude: 9.5500, Centroid Longitude: -78.9833), San Blas Islands; Caribbean Sea.
Clark, A.M. & Downey, M.E. (1992). Starfishes of the Atlantic. Chapman & Hall Identification Guides, 3. Chapman & Hall: London, UK. ISBN 0-412-43280-3. xxvi, 794 pp.
LSID urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:178210Asterias gigas Linnaeus, 1753 (Synonym (name invalidated by date))
Asterias pentacyphus Retzius, 1805 (Synonym according to Sladen (1889))
Asterias reticulata Linnaeus, 1758 (synonym)
Asterias sebae de Blainville, 1830
Oreaster aculeatus (Gray, 1840) (Synonym according to Bell (1884))
Oreaster bermudensis H.L. Clark, 1942
Oreaster gigas Lutken, 1859 (Synonym according to Doderlein (1936) and Madsen (1959))
Oreaster lapidarius Grube, 1857 (synonym according to Perrier (1875))
Oreaster tuberosus Behn in Mobius, 1859 (synonym according to Sladen (1889))
Pentaceros aculeatus Gray, 1840 (synonym according to Sladen (1889))
Pentaceros gibbus Gray, 1840 (synonym according to Muller and Troschel (1842))
Pentaceros grandis Gray, 1840 (synonym according to Muller and Troschel (1842))
Pentaceros reticulatus Gray, 1840
