It spends the day with its body immersed in the sediment, emerging into the open water at night.

[3] The serpent eel is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, where its range extends from Senegal to Portugal, and the Mediterranean Sea.

It has also been recorded from other parts of the African coast and the Indian Ocean, as well as from Australia and New Zealand;[3][4] this disjunct distribution may indicate that two similar species, looking much alike, are involved.

[4] It inhabits soft muddy and sandy sediments, mostly on the continental shelf, at depths down to about 300 m (1,000 ft).

At night it emerges to feed, the diet probably consisting of fish of a suitable size, and crustaceans.