It is found in the tropical waters of the eastern Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa.

[1] It is also found off the Canary Islands,[5] although it has not been recorded from the Cape Verde Islands[6] Merluccius polli is a bathydemersal species that, in the northern part of its range, occurs on the continental shelf and upper continental slope.

It feeds mainly on small fish but its diet also includes squid and free swimming crustaceans.

[1] Two subspecies have been proposed for M. polli:[4] These are parapatric and are separated by a 500 km gap in the Gulf of Guinea.

The catch statistics of this species are lumped with those of Merluccius senegalensis over the northern part of its range and with M. capensis in Namibia.