Female Alabama moccasinshell are gravid from October to June. They migrate to the surface of the river bottom between March and June, and have a black mantle lure which may be used to attract fish hosts to gravid females. Successful fish hosts for the Alabama moccasinshell include one species of topminnow and several darter species.

Freshwater mussels live an interesting multi-stage lifecycle, which depends upon a fish host to complete. Males release sperm into the water column, to be siphoned in by the incurrent aperture of the females, where the eggs held within her gills are then fertilized. Once the fertilized eggs start to develop, the female becomes inflated, or gravid. The fertilized eggs develop into glochidia, which is the mussels larval stage. This stage requires a fish host for transformation into the juvenile stage, which sometimes requires a little coaxing by females. Glochidia are housed in packets called conglutinates and often mimic a food source of the fishes within that ecosystem to lure the fish to bite. Once the fish bites, the glochidia clamp down onto the fish, become encysted, and feed from the fish for several weeks until dropping off as juveniles.

It is difficult to distinguish between the Alabama moccasinshell and Coosa moccasinshell, however, the posterior end of the Alabama moccasinshell is typically more pointed than that of the Coosa moccasinshell.

Freshwater mussels live an interesting multi-stage lifecycle which depends upon a fish host to complete. Males release sperm into the water column, to be (hopefully) siphoned in by the incurrent aperture of the females, where the eggs held within her gills are then fertilized. Once the fertilized eggs start to develop, the female becomes inflated (gravid). The fertilized eggs develop into glochidia, which is the mussels larval stage. This stage requires a fish host for transformation into the juvenile stage, which sometimes requires a little coaxing by the female mussel. Glochidia are 

This mussel species is small and delicate, measuring up to 55 millimeters in length. Their shell is narrowly elliptical and thin, with a well developed acute posterior ridge that terminates in an acute point on the posterior ventral margin. The posterior slope is finely corrugated or wavy.

The periostracum is dull to glossy and yellow to brownish yellow, with broken green rays across the entire surface of the shell. The nacre is thin and translucent along the margins and it's coloration can vary from while to salmon-colored in the umbos, or beak cavity, which are shallow. The pseudocardinal teeth of the Alabama moccasinshell are short and triangular while their lateral teeth are slightly curved.  

Many freshwater mussels spend the majority of their life sedentary and filter feeding on the bottom of rivers and streams. Sometimes they will bury into the sediment, only revealing a small portion of their aperture, which is used for gas exchange and filter feeding. The Alabama moccasinshell spends most of it's time buried in the sediment, although gravid females, meaning carrying eggs, have been alleged to emerge from the sediment to display a modified mantle margin.

The Alabama moccasinshell typically occupies sand, gravel or cobble shoals, with moderate to strong currents, in streams and small rivers.

Although the diets of unionids, or freshwater mussels, are poorly understood, it is believed to consist of algae, and or, bacteria. Some studies suggest that the diets of freshwater mussels may change throughout their life, with juveniles collecting organic materials from the substrate though pedal feeding and then developing the ability to filter feed during adulthood. Pedal feeding is a form of deposit feeding where the animal uses their muscular foot to bury into the sediment, collecting organic matter. Filter-feeding is a process by which mussels feed off of suspended organic material by pumping in water through their incurrent aperture and out through their excurrent apertures, catching small suspended particles and using them as food.