The family Bougainvilliidae comprises a group of anthoathecate hydrozoans that is biologically, ecologically and biogeographically poorly understood, and consequently, poorly taxonomically organized. Here, our goal is to synthesize knowledge of the family from an historical perspective, and to analyze their potential distribution based on their ecology. We analyzed all the available information on the family (based on 303 articles and databases), comprising 15 genera and 97 valid species in five oceans. Two temporal peaks (1900 and 2000) in publications are dominated by records of meroplanktonic species. The coastal zone has the most frequently reported occurrences. The widest latitudinal ranges are found in the genera Bimeria and Bougainvillia. Ecological niche modeling of 25 species (MaxEnt algorithm) finds that chlorophyll is the most important variable that influences the distribution of the family. Five possible latitudinal distributional patterns are derived from the model, dominated by the subtropical-polar distribution.