It lives mostly in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lakes, in swamps and mangroves where it preys mostly on fish.

Felis viverrinus was proposed by Edward Turner Bennett in 1833, who described a cat skin sent from India by Josiah Marshall Heath.

[2] The genus name Prionailurus was proposed by Nikolai Severtzov in 1858 for spotted wild cats native to Asia.

[2] The background colour of its fur varies between individuals from yellowish tawny to ashy grey, and the size of the stripes ranges from narrow to broad.

[13] Fishing cat paws are partly webbed, and the claws are incompletely sheathed, only becoming partially covered when fully retracted.

[14][11] These include low-salinity bodies such as oxbow lakes, and high-salinity ones such as tidal creeks and mangrove forests.

[16] In the Nepal Terai, it has been recorded in Shuklaphanta, Bardia, Chitwan and Parsa National Parks and in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve.

[28] In Sri Lanka, it has been recorded in tea estates, Maduru Oya National Park and multiple localities in coastal to hilly regions.

[35] In Cambodia, a single fishing cat was photographed by a camera trap in Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary in March 2003.

[37] The island of Java constitutes the southern limit of the fishing cat's range, but by the 1990s fishing cats were thought to be scarce and restricted to tidal forests with sandy or muddy shores, older mangrove stands, and abandoned mangrove plantation areas with fishponds.

[40] The pungent smell of fishing cat urine markings is due to 3-Mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol, a breakdown product of felinine.

[41] Fishing cat feces collected in India's Keoladeo National Park revealed that fish comprises about three-quarter of its diet, with the remainder consisting of birds, small rodents and insects; molluscs, reptiles, amphibians, carrion of cattle and grass supplement its diet.

[11][44] It prefers hunting in shallow water and spends about half the time lying in wait for prey to approach.

[14] In captivity, the gestation period lasts 63–70 days; females give birth to an average of two to three kittens; the litter size can be as small as one to as large as four.

[46] The fishing cat is also vulnerable to diseases and medical conditions such as feline hemoplasmas, transitional cell carcinoma and canine distemper virus.

[50] Additionally, in a 2012 case study, Toxocara cati was reported as the cause of death of young captive fishing cats.

The conversion of mangrove forests to commercial aquaculture ponds is a major threat in Andhra Pradesh, and in some places fishing cats are killed.

The fishing cat's habitat in India is predominantly marshlands, which are subject to agricultural usage under the country's laws, resulting in human–wildlife conflict.

[55] The fishing cat is included on CITES Appendix II and protected by national legislation over most of its range.

Hunting is prohibited in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

Part of this work involves creating alternative livelihood programs that allow villagers to earn money without damaging natural habitats.