[3] It was described by Keppel Harcourt Barnard in 1923.

[4] It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Western Pacific, including the United States, Venezuela, South Africa, Zanzibar, and Japan.

It lives at a depth range of 30 to 270 metres (98 to 886 ft), and inhabits muddy sediments in coastal waters and large rivermouths.

Males can reach a maximum total length of 52 centimetres (20 in).

[3] The shortbelly eel is of no commercial interest to fisheries.