[2] Allan Riverstone McCulloch placed it in the genus Lovettia in 1915, describing it from specimens collected by a Mr Lovett from the Derwent River.

[4] Historically only known from eastern, northern and western coastal regions in Tasmania, in 1993 a population was discovered in the Tarwin River adjacent to Anderson's Inlet in southern Victoria.

[4] The total range of Australian Whitebait in the Tarwin River has not been fully investigated, however the presence of the species in Anderson Inlet itself was reconfirmed in 2007 and again in 2014, demonstrating long-term persistence of the mainland population.

[4] However, because of the anecdotal location of large schools of the species several kilometres to sea it has been suggested that adults inhabit primarily shallow coastal waters.

[4] In Tasmania, schools of spent L. sealii have been recorded upstream of estuaries, which suggests that adults outliving their first spawning might remain within river systems.

[4] Recent otolith microchemistry analysis suggests that Australian whitebait are a semi-anadromous, or an estuarine dependant marine species, as residence in pure freshwater does not appear to occur during the life-cycle.