The Alabama Shiner is widely distributed throughout the Mobile Basin in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee, especially in upland areas. They are found in rocky riffles and the heads of pools of creeks and rivers. Alabama Shiners have the largest breeding tubercles, horny projections on their head and body used in spawning, of any species in the genus Cyprinella. Like other members of its genus, Alabama Shiners have diamond-shaped scales and spawn in crevices.