The Sheepshead Minnow is found primarily in saline waters from Maine to Mexico, including the Mobile Bay in Alabama. They are found in salt, brackish, and fresh water typically associated with vegetation. This species should not be confused with the larger marine fish with a similar name, the Sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus). Sheepshead Minnows exhibit a distinctive posturing that signals other individuals to clean parasites off of them, and they also serve as parasite pickers for other Sheepshead Minnows and other species of fishes.