Western Atlantic: southeastern Florida, USA to Central America according to Massachusetts to southern Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: Galicia, Spain, Cape Blanc and Cape Verde to Angola. Reported from Walvis Bay, Namibia. Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to the Hawaiian and Tuamoto islands, north to southern Japan and the Ogasawara Islands, south to Victoria, Australia.

With a row of bony plates along the midline (absent in F. commersoni); reddish or brownish-orange in color (whereas F. commersoni is greenish-brown).

Found in the sublittoral zone; inhabits coastal areas over soft bottoms, usually at depths greater than 10 m.