[3] The painted rocksnail is a small to medium-sized pleurocerid snail with a shell that measures about 19 mm (0.75 in) in length, and is subglobose to oval in shape.

[5] All of the rocksnails that historically inhabited the Mobile Basin had broadly rounded apertures, oval shaped shells, and variable coloration.

[5] Dams change such areas by eliminating or reducing currents, and thus allowing sediments to accumulate on inundated channel habitats.

For example, many reservoirs in the Basin currently experience eutrophic (enrichment of a water body with nutrients) conditions, and chronically low dissolved oxygen levels.

[5] (update needed) Painted rocksnails are gill-breathing snails which are found attached to cobble, gravel, or other hard substrates in the strong currents of riffles (a shallow area in a streambed that causes ripples in the water) and shoals.