The shoal bass occurs in the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint river drainages of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. It has been introduced and is now established in the Altamaha River drainages in central Georgia. It inhabits shoal areas of rivers and large creeks throughout its range. Over the past 40 years, the shoal bass has been referred to as the Redeye Bass, M. corsage, as an undescribed subspecies or variety of the Redeye Bass, or as an undescribed species. All of the Redeye Bass records have been transferred to the new designation of Shoal Bass. The Shoal Bass coloration is olive-green to dark olive to almost black, a dusky to black blotch is present on the posterior portion of the opercle and another one right before the tail. Three diagonal dark lines are present laterally on the head. The iris is typically bright red.