They often live in groups in caves, fly in forest glades, and also fly above water, suggesting that they may trawl the water for fish. The echolocation sound wave is typical frequency modulation, accompanied by 1-2 harmonics. They come out at dusk to hunt nocturnal insects. This species was considered a subspecies of the Water Myotis daubentonii (Myotis Daubentonii) until 2005 and is now a separate species.
The water-myoeared bat is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 2008 Red List of Threatened Species.