The coot has a medium-sized mouth. It is tall and flat on the side. There is armor on its forehead, which is white, obtuse at the end. The wings are short and rounded, and the first primary is shorter than the second. The Lisfranc is short, shorter than the middle toe and the toes are not linked together. All of the toes have wide and separated webs. The feathers are all black or dark gray. Most of the undertail coverings are partially white and the male and female are similar. 

The coot inhabits in large still water or offshore waters with aquatic plants. It is good at swimming and can dive to hunt small fish and aquatic plants. While swimming, the tail droops and the head swings back and forth. It can dive for a long time when it encounters an enemy. It is omnivorous, but mainly feeds on plants, especially tender buds, leaves, roots and stems of aquatic plants, and also feeds on insects, worms and mollusks and so on.

Widely distributed in Eurasia, Africa, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. Widespread in various regions in China, reaching as far as Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia in the north, Changbai Mountains in Jilin in the east, Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang in the west, the Himalayas in Tibet in the west, and Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Hainan Island in the south.