Native distribution of the Iowa darter extends north to central Canada, east to New York, and south to central Illinois, and the species is particularly common in the western Great Lakes drainages and Iowa.

Their sides are red with blue rectangular blotches and ventrally they are whitish with a dark wedge shape below the eyes.

[5] Iowa darters prefer cool, clear water over a sand or organic-matter substrate.

To move around, they make short dashes of astonishing speed (hence the name), often faster than the human eye can follow.

The darter can zip along stream and lake substrate looking for food using less energy than other fish, which would keep floating up off the bottom.

[6] The Iowa darter eats copepods, water fleas, and midge and mayfly larvae it finds in underwater vegetation.

They migrate from deeper regions of lakes and streams to the shallow, vegetated reaches for spawning.

Males typically migrate before females, and maintain and defend small territories near undercut banks with rooted vegetation.

Their developmental time is around 18–26 days at 13–16 °C and the newly hatched darters are around 3.4 mm in standard length.