This ocean-going petrel has dark gray and white plumage and breeds on subantarctic islands. New Zealand's only known breeding population is on the Antipodes Islands.
In flight it has narrow wings and a pointed tail. The head and back are dark gray, the body underside is mostly white, and the cheeks and throat show white feathers.
On Antipodes Island in 1978, curved burrows about 1–1.5 m long lay in dry peat in a valley with dense ferns and tussock grass. Nests were lined with fern fragments and grass. Before laying, birds thought to be males visited some nests for two or three consecutive days, and pairs spent at least two consecutive days in other burrows.
At Ile Foch in the Kerguelen Islands, 33 food samples taken from adults returning to feed chicks on 8–22 February 1999 contained fish (71.2%), crustaceans (21.9%), and cephalopods such as squid (6.5%) by mass of the remaining fresh prey. Lanternfishes were the most numerous fish family, while amphipods were the most numerous crustaceans.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.