This bottom-dwelling species typically inhabits upper continental slopes and seamounts at depths of . However, it occasionally ventures into shallower water, with one ray observed feeding at a depth of off Japan. It can be found over sandy, muddy, or rocky bottom substrates. The long snout of the sixgill stingray is very flexible both vertically and horizontally, suggesting that the ray uses it to probe for food in the bottom sediment. The underside of the snout is covered by well-developed ampullae of Lorenzini arranged in longitudinal rows, which are capable of detecting the minute electric fields produced by other organisms. The mouth can be protruded downward farther than the length of the head, likely allowing the ray to extract buried prey. The jaws are poorly mineralized, suggesting that it does not feed on hard-shelled animals. There is a record of a specimen with a wound from a cookiecutter shark ("Isistius brasiliensis"). Reproduction in the sixgill stingray is viviparous, with documented litter sizes of between two and five pups. Newly born rays measure around long. Both males and females mature sexually at approximately long. For the most part, little fishing activity occurs at the depths occupied by the sixgill stingray, thus the IUCN has listed it as Least Concern. In the waters around Taiwan, it is caught in small numbers as bycatch in bottom trawls. The catch rate seems to have decreased in recent years, leading to concerns that it may be locally overfished, though quantitative data are lacking.