Adult males have a distinct boss at the end of the snout, which resembles an earthenware pot known as a ghara, hence the name "gharial".

Local people living near rivers attributed mystical and healing powers to the gharial, and used some of its body parts as ingredients of indigenous medicine.

The name 'gharial' is derived from the Hindustani word 'ghara' for an earthen pot, in reference to the nasal protuberance on the adult male's snout.

[8] The gharial was placed in the genus Crocodilus by subsequent naturalists: The generic name Gavialis was proposed by Nicolaus Michael Oppel in 1811 for crocodiles with a cylindrical-shaped back.

He placed it in the family Gavialidae together with the false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii) because both have long, slender jaws and similar dentition.

[19] Some authors assumed that the gharial evolved earlier than the other crocodilians because of its distinct skull shape and dentition, indicating a more advanced level of specialization.

[28] Fossil gharial remains excavated in the Sivalik Hills of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are dated to between the Pliocene and the Early Pleistocene.

[29] Fossil gharial remains were also found at two sites in the Ayeyarwady River valley in central Myanmar, which are dated to the Late Pleistocene.

[28] G. bengawanicus fossils found in Thailand's Nakhon Ratchasima Province support the hypothesis of gharial dispersal through riverine systems.

[34] Male gharials develop a hollow bulbous nasal protuberance at the tip of the snout upon reaching sexual maturity.

[51] In the 1940s, it was numerous in the Barak River in Assam, which held big fish at the time including golden mahseer (Tor putitora).

[56][57] In spring 2017, the Babai River was surveyed using an unmanned aerial vehicle, which detected 33 gharials on a stretch of 102 km (63 mi).

This population had declined due to commercial fishing, poaching, encroachment by local people in gharial breeding grounds and siltation of river beds following deforestation.

[81] Gharials bask daily in the cold season, foremost in the mornings, and prefer sandy and moist beaches.

[85] The gharial is well adapted to hunting fish underwater because of its sharp interlocking teeth and long narrow snout, which meets little resistance in the water.

Gharials tear apart large fish and pick up and swallow stones as gastroliths, probably to aid digestion or regulate buoyancy.

[91] In the Chambal River, females were observed to stay close to nest sites and guard young gharials until the shoreline was flooded.

[93] Young gharials in their first year of age hide and forage in shallow water preferably in sites that are surrounded by debris of fallen trees.

When they reach a length of about 75 cm (30 in) and a weight of about 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) at the age of 8–9 months, they change to an adult pattern of locomotion of pushing forward with hind and front legs simultaneously.

[2] When 111 dead gharials were found in the Chambal River between December 2007 and March 2008, it was initially suspected that they had died either because of toxicants or the illegal use of fish nets, in which they became entrapped in and subsequently drowned.

[70] Later post mortem pathological testing of tissue samples revealed high levels of heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, which together with stomach ulcers and protozoan parasites reported in most necropsies were thought to have caused their deaths.

[96] Threats in unprotected stretches of the Karnali River include quarrying for boulders, sand mining and unlicensed fishing.

[2] In 1975, the Indian Crocodile Conservation Project was set up under the auspices of the Government of India, initially in Odisha's Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary.

[97] In 1976, two breeding centres were established in Uttar Pradesh, one in Kukrail Reserve Forest and one in Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, with facilities to hatch and raise up to 800 gharials each year for release in rivers.

In 1991, the Ministry of Environment and Forests withdrew funds for the captive-breeding and egg-collection programs, arguing that the project had served its purpose.

[2] In Nepal, wild eggs collected along rivers have been incubated in the Gharial Conservation and Breeding Center in Chitwan National Park since 1978.

[103][104] In 2017, members of the Crocodile Specialist Group therefore recommended to foster engagement of local communities in gharial conservation programs.

[119] In the 16th-century book Baburnama, Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur accounted of a gharial sighting in the Ghaghara River between Ghazipur and Benares in 1526.

[121] Local people in Nepal attributed various mystical powers to the ghara of male gharials and killed them to collect their snouts.

[122] Tharu people believed that the ghara would repel insects and pests when burnt in a field, and that gharial eggs would be an effective cough medicine and aphrodisiac.