The geographic distributions of 375 reef and reef‐associated fishes are reported for 16 regions ranging from Norfolk and Kermadec Islands in the north to Macquarie Island in the south. Species diversity was greatest at Norfolk Island (228 species) and lowest at Macquarie Island (6 species). Diversity declined linearly with increasing latitude. Most species were either widespread or had very restricted distributions. Widespread species generally ranged from Three Kings Islands to Stewart Island. The most widespread species occurred in 14 of the 16 regions. Species with restricted distributions were mainly tropical or subtropical species that occurred at one or more of Norfolk Island, Kermadec Islands, and North‐East North Island. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) identified eight groups of regions with similar species compositions. These eight groups reflected the latitudinal variation in sea surface temperature. Seven species distributional groups were recognised. Tropical (167 species) and antarctic (4 species) groups were identified using distributional data from the literature. A PCA ordination was carried out on the remaining 204 species and five further species groups were identified: subtropical (77 species), warm temperate (32), widespread (81), cool temperate (10), and subantarctic (4).