Dapalis was a common fish in estuarine and freshwater habitats of Europe from the mid-Paleogene to the early Neogene.

[3] Dapalis is the second most common fossil fish of the Aix-en-Provence lagerstatte in France, where large numbers of articulated specimens are known.

A roadcut near Avignon has another exposure of the Aix-en-Provence formation, with extremely abundant D. minutus and another undescribed species, to the extent that a nearby blind alley is nicknamed the "Impasse des Dapalis".

[4][5] A highly speciose assemblage of freshwater Dapalis is known from the Early Oligocene of Serbia, comprising at least 5 species known from articulated specimens with in-situ otoliths.

This group appears to have inhabited an isolated freshwater habitat and is highly morphologically distinct from other European Dapalis species, suggesting that they were either highly adapted to this environment or represented a unique lineage of Dapalis that arrived to Europe independently of other lineages.