The greater weever is widely distributed along the eastern Atlantic coastline from Norway to Morocco, extending to the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas.

Trachinus draco has been shown to occur in depths ranging from shallow water up to -150 meters where it inhabits mostly muddy or sandy grounds.

[4] Trachinus draco is an elongated and laterally flattened fish with upstanding eyes and a distinct superior mouth that is inclined upwards.

In the Algarve Coast of Southern Portugal the largest female found by Santos et al. had a total maximum length of 39.6 cm.

The largest female found by Ak et al. in the Black Sea had a total maximum length of 35 cm.

[9]⁠ Trachinus draco is an ambush predator that digs itself into fine sand during daytime only with its eyes and the tip of the dorsal fin exposed.⁠[11] There it lurks until prey emerges which is then attacked in a swift and sudden manner.

The most common prey that could be identified to the rank of species, were decapods, namely Liocarcinus depurator and Galathea strigosa, and mysids, namely Anchialina agilis.

[9]⁠⁠ In Danish waters on the other hand Merlangius merlangus and to smaller extent Clupeoides were the main feeding source in the time of winter.⁠[13] The frequency of empty stomachs, in the specimens found in the eastern Adriatic Sea was around 15% in general, but differed significantly through the year.

[9]⁠ Aquarium experiments with stable light, temperature, salinity and sustained food supply on the contrary suggest an endogenous feeding pattern because even under such conditions the fishes refused to eat in the time from January to April and from October to March.

[2]⁠ This very broad range is limited by the observations of Ole Bagge (2004) who states that his findings strongly indicate that the spawning time of T. draco is indeed restricted to the period between June and August with a peak in July.

[16] The potentially lethal protein component in the crude venom of T. draco is a 105 kDa polypeptide which is called Dracotoxin.

[18]⁠ The most common incident regarding humans is strongly connected with T. draco’ s typical behaviour: being burrowed in the sand of shallow waters.

The other occasion where humans are at risk to get stung by T. draco is when fishermen are handling the fish if caught in a net.⁠[5]⁠ ⁠The venom of the greater weever is best-known for the excruciating pain it provokes a short period of time after the initial sting which can last from a few hours to days.

There are in fact cases reported in which victims of a weever sting were still affected by it after a period of 4 months, even if this seems to be a rare scenario.

[5]⁠[20]⁠ Even if there are reported cases of fatal accidents with T. draco, it is widely believed that those are due to secondary infections and sepsis rather than to the toxin itself.

These recommendations reach from the application of hot water or vinegar to more arcane methods like fish liver, tobacco juice or the suggestion of "burning the devilish weever, swear and pray".

[4]⁠ The modern medicine does in fact recommend the application of any kind of heat preferably to souse the affected limb into hot water (40–42 °C).

Beside this first aid attempt to ease the pain it is recommended to clean the wound and to see a physician because antibiotics, further analgesics or even a tetanus prophylaxis might be appropriate.