Meso-bathypelagic.
Sampling depth (Antarct., sub-Antarct.) : 500-1000-3000 m.
For Vervoort (1963b, p.174) many indubitable individuals of this species occur in the Atlantide collection. The female is easily recognized by the short, squat cephalothorax and the short urosome; the structure of the genital swelling in ventral aspect is very characteristic. In the male the structure of the left exopodite of P5 may be used for identification; the lamella on the 2nd exopodal segment of the left P5 is not hollowed but flat; both its edges are set with small, fairly obtuse teeth, gradually increasing in size near apex; the end of the serrated lamella reaches two thirds the length of the 3rd exopodal segment; this segment is distinctly swollen and carries a rounded, haired tubercle at its base; the digitiform process is cylindrical and just as long as the serrated lamella; there seems to be no spine on the 2nd left exopodal segment of P5 at the base on the serrated edge of the lamella. Though Tanaka states that only 5 setae are present on the epipodite of Mx1, there is invariably 7 setae to be present, 5 of which are large and strong, 2 are very thin and small (these 2 easily escape observation).
Lapernat (comm. pers., 2000) confirms the presence of this species off Mauritania.
A confusion is possible between this species and P. mexicana.
The japanese specimens resemble E. scotti Farran but can be distinguished from it. Wolfenden's scotti has only 5 setae on the outside lobe1 of Mx1 (Tanaka, 1958, p.351).
Park (1995, p.46) found this species in the South Atlantic, between 15°S and 35°S, in the Pacific along the west coast of South America between 3°N and 35°S, in equatorial waters, the central North Pacific at 31°N, the Malay Archipelago, the South and East China seas, off the Pacific coast of Japan up to 35°N. The species was also found in the eastern Indian Ocean between 5°S and 14°S, in the Bay of Bengal. However, it has not been found in the North Atlantic.