The mouth is large and nearly horizontal, with slender teeth adapted for grasping and holding prey. It is the top native carnivore of the Colorado River system and a voracious predator. The fish occurs in the warm, swift waters of the big rivers of the Colorado Basin.
Adults are migratory and inhabit pools and eddies just outside the main current.
Young can be found in the backwater areas. Historically, the fish was found in the Colorado River and major tributaries in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Fossil evidence indicates that it may have used lakes as well as rivers. Populations also exist in the Colorado, Green, Yampa, Gunnison, and San Juan rivers, tributaries of the Colorado River. Colorado pikeminnow are adapted to rivers with seasonally variable flow, high silt loads, and turbulence.