The sooties have long been considered distinct from the rest of the other albatrosses, and have retained their generic status through the many revisions of the family over the last 150 years.

They have traditionally been thought of as primitive, sharing some morphological features with the other petrel families.

Unique amongst the albatrosses they have long stiff wedge shaped tails, the purpose of which is unclear but seems to be related to their ability to dive for food.

At sea they forage from South America to Australia, with a few records of birds reaching New Zealand.

At sea they often eat more fish as opposed to squid than other albatross species, and the sooties also readily take carrion and particularly other seabirds.

These threats, combined with some historic harvesting of the birds and chicks, has led to an estimated 75% population decline in the sooty albatross over the last 90 years (to around 40,000 birds), which has led to it being listed as an endangered species by the IUCN.