This fish is a slender, silvery minnow with a dusky lateral stripe and a maximum total length of about 80 mm (3.1 in).

Bigeye shiners prefer warm, quiet pools with clear water and silt-free substrates.

[2] During spawning season, typically late April to August, bigeye shiners have several clutches of eggs.

[2] The bigeye shiner is a common species in upland streams of the middle Mississippi River system, including the eastern highlands of Kentucky, Tennessee, and northern Alabama, the Ozark and Ouachita highlands of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, and subhighland regions of northern Louisiana and southeastern Kansas.

Dams are also responsible for temperature and flow variability, sediment accumulation, and altered dissolved oxygen.

[2] Bigeye shiners inhabit flowing, usually clear and rocky, pools of creeks and small to medium rivers.

The bigeye shiner is a sight feeder; it preys mostly on small insects hovering at the water surface.