[2][3] It is endemic to the southeastern United States, where it is known from a small section of the Appalachian Mountains in southwestern North Carolina and northern Georgia.

[4] The fish was once an important food source to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians before it nearly disappeared in the 1970s and 1980s.

[3] A number of groups and agencies are attempting to preserve the fish, including the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, Duke Energy, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S.

However, Jenkins later observed a spawning wild population comprising individuals that only associated with each other, confirming that they represented a distinct species.

[4] After more than 30 years, over which its distribution was analyzed and it became the subject of targeted conservation efforts, it was officially described as M. ugidatli in 2025.

[4] The sicklefin redhorse is a potamodromous species that inhabits the downstreams of large rivers in the summer and fall, and migrates to lotic habitats just upstream of reservoirs in the winter.

[5] It features a large and sickle-shaped dorsal fin on its back, which is generally olive-colored but sometimes partly red.