Upeneus moluccensis prefers sandy or muddy substrates where it searches for its food, mainly benthic crustaceans using chemoreceptors on its barbels. As they grow larger fish form a greater part of their diet. In the Mediterranean they spawn from late July up to September, the spawn and larvae are planktonic, settling to a benthic habit at 4–5 cm in length and becoming sexually mature when they are about a year old, c.