It inhabits coastal and inland freshwater creeks and rivers of northern Australia.

The teeth are conical and a little recurved in shape and are arranged in bands, with those in the outer rows the largest.

[3] It is an omnivorous species which has been recorded feeding on frogs, insects, worms, crustaceans, algae, plant roots and palm berries.

[4] The sooty grunter was first formally described as Therapon fuliginosus in 1883 by the Scottish-Australian naturalist William John Macleay with the type locality given as the Upper Burdekin River in northern Queensland.

[5] The specific name fuliginosus, from the Latin word fuligo, "soot", refers to the sooty coloration of the species.