It was first described in 1876 by the Swedish zoologist Johan Hjalmar Théel after he had collected specimens while accompanying the explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld on an expedition attempting to find the Northeast Passage.

[2] In a study in the Greenland Sea, E. glacialis occurred on the lower slopes of the continental shelf at depths of about 2,700 metres (8,900 ft).

The depth of the seabed in the study area of the Canada Basin was about 3,800 metres (12,500 ft).

[4] A further study, this time in a canyon in the western part of the Greenland Sea at a depth of about 3,200 metres (10,500 ft), found E. glacialis was sometimes present with an abundance of up to sixty individuals per 1 square metre (11 sq ft).

It is a deposit feeder and its abundance may reflect differences in the availability of food in the sediment.