The Antarctic prion was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[3] Gmelin based his description on the "brown-banded petrel" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham from a specimen supplied by the naturalist Joseph Banks that had been collected on the "Isle of Desolation", now the Kerguelen Islands.

The prions are small and typically eat just zooplankton;[8] however as a member of the Procellariiformes, they share certain identifying features.

This can be sprayed out of their mouths as a defence against predators and as an energy rich food source for chicks and for the adults during their long flights.

[9] Finally, they also have a salt gland that is situated above the nasal passage and helps desalinate their bodies, due to the high amount of ocean water that they imbibe.

[8] The Antarctic prion has an occurrence range of 76,600,000 km2 (29,600,000 sq mi) and an estimated adult bird population of 50 million.