Similar in many ways to the Alvord chub, the Borax Lake species has a longer, wider, and deeper head, and larger eyes, and the caudal peduncle is more slender.

The Borax Lake chub eats a variety of foods, including midge larvae, diatoms, copepods, ostracods, and terrestrial insects.

Its continued existence was threatened by geothermal energy development near the lake, which dried up part of the chub's habitat.

However, in 2000 the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act put the area around the lake off-limits to geothermal exploration and mining.

Fish and Wildlife Department from 1980, when it was listed under an emergency rule[5] that was made permanent in 1982,[6] until July 2020, when it was delisted due to recovery.