Small compared to other suckers, the black redhorse is found in about a half-dozen Canadian watersheds: the Grand River, Thames River, Bayfield River, Maitland River, Ausable River and Spencer Creek watersheds. The black redhorse is a freshwater fish that favours medium-sized rivers with sandy or gravelly bottoms. The black redhorse is very sensitive to pollution and the water in which it lives must be clean, clear, swift flowing and rich with oxygen. In winter, black redhorses dwell deeper under the surface than they do in the summer.

The black redhorse has a grey to olive-green back and blue-silver sides that blend into its silver-white belly. The tail is slate grey and the other of the fins are normally slate grey to orange, but sometimes look reddish. During the spawning season, males have a side-long pink stripe, and their backs and sides are greenish black. Its mouth, like that of most suckers, is found in the lower part of the snout, which allows it to suck up food from the bottom of rivers. The black redhorse looks very similar to other species of redhorse - so much so that biologists tend to confuse them. However, a close inspection of its lips would reveal a straight black edge, as opposed to the "V" formed by the lips of a golden redhorse. This sucker reaches sexual maturity at age four and lives up to 16 years. In Canada, the black redhorse reaches full-size at 30 centimetres and weighs about one kilogram.