The colour of the body is greyish-brown, pale on the ventral side with a narrow, longitudinal black band on the flanks.

[4] The Marathon minnow is found in Springs, swamps, canals; normally among vegetation or under banks or in tree roots.

[5] It feeds on a wide variety of aquatic invertebrates, algae and detritus.

[1] The population in the Marathon area has been seriously affected by drainage for agriculture while other threats include Water abstraction, drought, agricultural pollution and introduced species such as the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)[1] and the mosquito-fish (Gambusia holbrooki), The habitat of this species should continue to be monitored, the spread of Gambusia halted using biological control and populations of Marathon minnow should be reinforced using captively bred fish.

The Marathon minnow is considered as Endangered in Greece but the IUCN class it as Near Threatened.