 This species favors still, murky waters and is most common in bays, estuaries, and lagoons, and over sandy flats and outer reefs.Sometimes, an individual may venture into open water; one was filmed in the 1971 documentary "Blue Water, White Death", in the vicinity of a sperm whale ("Physeter macrocephalus") carcass.Juvenile sicklefin lemon sharks are often found on reef flats or around mangroves, in water so shallow that their dorsal fins are exposed.