It lives in salt and brackish waters in shallow coastal regions from New Hampshire to Florida, and in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

In Feb 1916, Popular Science Monthly had a news article on research being done by Professor S. O. Mast of the zoological department of Johns Hopkins University.

[3] The professor was studying the Fundulus majolisis and noted their ability to survive the draining of ocean tide pools.

[citation needed] If the fish cannot find an exit, they actually leave the water and flop over land to reach the ocean.

Then, in groups of about twelve, the fish leave the pool and head across land towards the sea.