The spot is found along the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico and is most common south of New Jersey in the Chesapeake area. They are common in coastal salt and brackish waters of protected bays, marshes, and estuaries. They are generally found over mud, sand, or shell bottoms over a very wide range of depths. They have a wide saline tolerance from freshwater to twice the normal salinity of seawater. Their diet consists of small plankton, bottom dwelling crustaceans, and occasionally small fish and shellfish. They spawn at sea in the autumn and winter.
They serve on important economic importance to commercial fisheries in the Chesapeake area and the Carolinas.