This species inhabits areas with poor visibility, soft bottoms, and large tides, with immature sharks ranging into fresh and brackish water.

Very rare and facing threats from commercial and recreational fishing, and perhaps also habitat degradation, this species has been assessed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The first known specimens of the northern river shark, two newborn males from Papua New Guinea, were discovered by New Zealand ichthyologist Jack Garrick, after whom the species was eventually named.

The type specimen is a female 67 cm (26 in) long, collected from the East Alligator River, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory.

This species differs from the speartooth shark (G. glyphis) in several morphological and meristic characters, including having fewer vertebrae (137–151 versus 213–222) and a lower, jagged gray-white colour boundary.

[2] With its slender teeth, small eyes, and high density of ampullae of Lorenzini, the northern river shark seems to be adapted for hunting fish in conditions of poor visibility.

[1][5] Like other requiem sharks, this species is viviparous, with the developing embryos forming a placental connection to their mother after exhausting their supply of yolk.

[1] This species is caught legally and illegally by commercial fisheries using longlines and gillnets, as well as by recreational fishers; habitat degradation may pose a further threat to its survival.

Because of its low natural abundance, limited distribution, stringent habitat requirements, and susceptibility to various human-caused threats, the IUCN has assessed the northern river shark as Vulnerable.