It is found in swift-flowing streams with clear or slightly turbid water and moderately swift riffles, on small or medium-sized rivers with beds of sand or gravel.

[4] Another study, conducted in Alabama, revealed conflicting evidence that suggested the onset of spawning begins in late February and lasts approximately one week in duration.

[5] The explanation for such discrepancy in breeding season timing and length is unknown, however, Hubbs (1985) suggested a difference in latitudinal location could explain the variation.

However, collection for research purposes is important in regard to gaining information critical to developing management and conservation strategies to protect the species.

[8] This habitat requirement makes them sensitive to activities that cause pollution and siltation, such as mining, logging, natural gas exploration and extraction, and agriculture.

Because crystal darters are geographically confined to a few freshwater systems with clear, fast-moving water they are particularly vulnerable to extinction when their limited habitat is degraded.

[5] Soil erosion due to intensive or inadequate agricultural and forestry practices and construction activities has amplified the natural effects of siltation in the water bodies that drain these areas.

[9] High concentrations of fine sediment can also affect fish by reducing their rate of growth, decreasing their tolerance to disease or directly killing them by clogging gill rakers and filaments.

[5] Artificial impoundments, such as dams, increase the amount of sedimentation in streams by drowning riffles and reducing flow, causing changes in substrate composition.

The crystal darter was first formally described as Pleurolepis asprellus by the American ichthyologist David Starr Jordan (1851–1931) with the type locality given as a small rocky tributary of the Mississippi River at Warsaw, Illinois.