They are endemic to the coastal areas of Brazil, where they inhabit ephemeral pools in tropical forests like the Mata Atlântica (or what remains thereof) and restinga.

The males may have some dark pigmentation, but it does not extend into the distal dorsal fin, as it does in many related genera.

Otherwise, they are mainly colored in bright reddish and yellow hues, with iridescent or similarly conspicuous spots on the sides; their opercular region bears red horizontal stripes that usually interconnect to form a web-like pattern.

The caudal fin of Leptolebias species is elongated and longer than deep, and the members of this genus have a single anterior supraorbital neuromast.

[1] A cladistic study revealed that the genus Leptolebias in the old circumscription was paraphyletic: some species often placed here are actually less closely related to the type species L. marmoratus; the marbled pearlfish; than the related genera Campellolebias and Cynopoecilus are.