[2] It was described by James Erwin Böhlke and John Carmon Briggs in 1954.

[3] It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the eastern central Pacific Ocean, including Mexico and Panama.

It dwells at a depth range of 0 to 30 metres (0 to 98 ft), and inhabits sand sediments.

Males can reach a maximum standard length of 45.5 centimetres (17.9 in).

[2] Due to there being an extremely limited number of known specimens, and thereby a lack of information on the species' distribution and population, threats and habitat requirements, the IUCN redlist currently lists the Sandy ridgefin eel as Data Deficient.