A merganser marked by a long crest and scaled flanks. It breeds along mountain rivers and mainly winters on China's large rivers.
The male has a glossy green-black head, a long crest, a white breast, and grey-scaled flanks. The female has a warm buff head and neck with a wispy crest.
For breeding it uses mountain rivers below about 900 m, mainly where tall riverside forest offers tree cavities for nests. During migration and winter it uses large rivers.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.