The most striking feature of the Hottentot teal is its blue bill. It is the smallest African duck and one the smallest of all the waterfowl, weighing a mere 260 g. Males and females are very similar in size and colour. Both have blue-grey feet, a black head, a brown spotted breast, and a bit of green on their wings.

This species is omnivorous, as although its diet consists largely of seeds, fruits and other vegetable matter, it may take aquatic invertebrates such as crustaceans, molluscs, water insects such as beetles and the larvae of flies. The Hottentot teal is active usually only at dusk and dawn (crepuscular). It forages by dabbling on surface while swimming and wading to and from shore to head-dip and up-end in shallows.

The Hottentot teal lives in large flocks in the wild. Females construct their nests in reed beds, using grasses and stems as building materials. The female lays 6-9 which are incubated for 24-27 days. The ducklings leave the nest soon after hatching and the mother's parenting is limited to providing protection from predators and leading young to feeding areas. They fledge at 45-55 days. They live in: Africa: East, Southeast, South, West central. Tropical eastern Africa: Ethiopia to Cape Province, westward to northern Botswana and Namibia, and Madagascar