[5] Its defining characteristic, which separates Adrianichthys from all other members of the family, Adrianichthyidae, is its peculiar "duck-bill," or overhanging upper jaw.

[5] Some local fisherman living near Lake Poso attribute the duck-billed buntingi's dramatic decrease in population to the massive eruption of Colo Volcano on Una-Una Island in Tomini Bay in 1983.

Instead most scientists believe the human introduction of the predatory fishes including snakehead, Channa striata, and tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus, most likely led to their present conservation status.

The duck-billed buntingi's status on the IUCN Red List changed from critically endangered to possibly extinct in 2019.

[5] Although little is known about their reproductive tendencies, their predators, or who they prey on, one of their closest relatives, the Xenopoecilus poptae, may serve to give us some indication of the duck-billed buntingi's biology.