The smooth and unornamented snout is extremely long and slender, parallel sided, with a length of 3.0 to 3.5 times the width at the base.

[9] The false gharial apparently has the largest skull of any extant crocodilian, in part because of the great length of the slender snout.

Out of the eight longest crocodilian skulls from existing species that could be found in museums around the world, six of these belonged to false gharials.

[11] The scientific name Crocodilus (Gavialis) schlegelii was proposed by Salomon Müller in 1838 who described a specimen collected in Borneo.

The genus Tomistoma potentially also contains several extinct species like T. cairense, T. lusitanicum, T. taiwanicus, and T. coppensi.

[6] However, although more morphologically similar to Crocodylidae based on skeletal features, recent molecular studies using DNA sequencing consistently indicate that the false gharial and by inference other related extinct forms traditionally viewed as belonging to the crocodylian subfamily Tomistominae actually belong to Gavialoidea and Gavialidae.

[16][17][18][19][20][21][14][22] Fossils of extinct Tomistoma species have been found in deposits of Paleogene, Neogene, and Quaternary ages in Taiwan, Uganda, Italy, Portugal, Egypt and India, but nearly all of them are likely to be distinct genera due to older age compared to the false gharial.

[24] Prior to the 1950s, Tomistoma occurred in freshwater ecosystems along the entire length of Sumatra east of the Barisan Mountains.

The current distribution in eastern Sumatra has been reduced by 30-40% due to hunting, logging, fires, and agriculture.

In addition to fish and smaller aquatic animals, mature adults prey on larger vertebrates, including proboscis monkeys, long-tailed macaques, deer, water birds, and reptiles.

[27] The false gharial is threatened by habitat loss in most of its range due to the drainage of freshwater swamps and conversion for commercial plantation of oil palms.

[26] Population surveys carried out in the mid 2000s indicated that the distribution of individuals is spotty and disconnected, with a risk of genetic isolation.