The genus Pseudaphritis was described by the French zoologist Francis de La Porte Castelnau in 1872.

Lev Berg proposed a replacement name, Phricus but this was a synonym of Castelnau's earlier Pseudaphritis.

the specific name honours the explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, leader of the Astrolabe expedition (1826- 1829), in the course of which type was collected.

Gerorges Cuvier's Eleginus bursinus is a senior synonym of Pseudaphritis urvillii but has been disregarded due to the prevailing usage of P.

[11][12] In 2017, congolli were recorded in five rivers on Kangaroo Island in South Australia for the first time, thanks to a project conducted by Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR) and carried out by a number of citizen science volunteers.

[11] The congolli is a carnivorous ambush predator, and feeds on insects (especially in freshwater), fish, crustaceans (especially in estuaries), worms, molluscs, and other invertebrates.

[11] Congolli are catadromous – they live in freshwater habitats as adults, and migrate downstream to estuaries to spawn.