[1] The shiner has a compressed body with large eyes and dark lips and chin.

The upper body of the shiner has dark stripe and dots, and is a light olive color.

[3] The shiner lives in small to medium-sized freshwater streams with minimal gradient and substrate ranging from sand to bedrock.

Its habitat range is less than 7,500 square kilometers, and many local populations of Lythrurus alegnotus have gone extinct due to the continued degradation of stream quality and the effects of strip-mining.

However, the IUCN still recommends the continued monitoring of warrior shiner populations and their habitat.