Setipinna taty plays an important role in the dynamics of marine ecosystems that often support valuable fisheries. To explore the temporal-spatial distribution of S. taty suitable habitats in the South inshore area of Zhejiang Province, ae Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) was used to analyze habitat characteristics of this species based on fishery independent survey data collected in four seasons from 2016 to 2018. HSI models with two different algorithms, Arithmetic Mean Model (AMM-HSI) and Geometric Mean Model (GMM-HSI), were constructed using S. taty abundance and environmental variables, including water temperature, depth, and salinity. Cross validation was used to evaluate the predictive performance of AMM-HSI and GMM-HSI and the model with the best predictive performance was used to predict the most suitable S. taty habitat distribution. The results showed that the suitability index (SI) of each environmental variable showed considerable differences in each season. The optimal water temperature for S. taty is 11.2-33.6℃, water depth is 19-46.6 m, and salinity is 27.8-33.2. GMM-HSI accuracy was higher than that of AMM-HSI, and GMM-HSI values predicted in spring, summer, and autumn were more evenly distributed at each interval than that of the AMM-HSI values. HSI model results showed that S. taty habitats with high suitability in spring are concentrated South of 28°N and West of 121.5°E. In summer, 27.5°N-28.5°N and east of 122°E are considerably more suitable for S. taty. The areas 27.5°N-29°N, west of 122.5°E and south of 27.5°N, west of 121.33°E in autumn, and west of 122.5°E in winter were found to be suitable habitats, which suggested that the optimum habitat distribution of S. taty changes seasonally. This was mainly related to S. taty migratory activities and ocean currents in the South inshore area of Zhejiang Province. Generally, the most suitable S. taty habitat is concentrated West of 122.5°E in winter, whereas South of 28.5°N and West of 122.5°E in spring, summer, and autumn. Therefore, the area South of 28.5°N could be recognized as the main suitable habitat for S. taty in the South inshore area of Zhejiang Province. This study showed that the HSI model can effectively explain the habitat distribution and changes of S. taty in this area, which has important significance for S. taty sustainable utilization. Small fishes, such as S. taty, are presently an import fishery focus because of overfishing and habitat degeneration in marine environments; therefore, the analysis of S. taty distribution is valuable for fishery resource management and conservation.