[3] Found almost circumglobally in deep water, it is one of the few species of sharks with seven pairs of gill slits as opposed to the usual five.

It is found from North Carolina to Cuba, including the northern Gulf of Mexico, and from Venezuela to Argentina in the western Atlantic.

It is reported from the Indian Ocean off southwestern India, Aldabra Island, southern Mozambique, and South Africa.

The coloration is brownish gray to olive above and lighter below; some individuals have dark blotches on the body or light posterior fin margins.

At the Great Meteor Seamount in the eastern Atlantic, this species feeds primarily on teleosts and cephalopods, and to a lesser extent on small cartilaginous fishes.

Known parasites of the sharpnose sevengill shark include nematodes in the genera Anisakis and Contracaecum, and the cestode Crossobothrium dohrnii.

[3] Small to moderate numbers of sharpnose sevengill sharks are captured as bycatch in certain deepwater commercial fisheries on longlines or in trawls.

[5][7] When captured, it is very active and quick to bite, but it does not pose a substantial threat to people due to its small size.

[2] Some concern exists that populations of this slow-reproducing species may be declining in areas of sustained deepwater fishing, and it has been assessed as Near Threatened by the World Conservation Union.