It is typically yellow-olive to slate black on the back and may appear mottled depending on its habitat,[3] though generally not as strongly as the brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus).

[4][5] Unlike flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris), there are no lateral extensions present on the upper (premaxillary) tooth patch.

They typically feed at night on a variety of plant and animal material, both live and dead, most commonly consisting of worms,[3] insects, snails, minnows, clams, crayfish, other small aquatic organisms, plant matter, and decaying animal matter.

[3] Yellow bullhead are bottom dwellers, living in areas with muck, rock, sand, or clay substrates.

Bullheads usually use a natural cavity or make saucer-shaped depressions near submerged cover, such as tree roots or sunken logs.

[3] Young fry are herded into tight schools by the male and are protected by both parents until they are approximately two inches long.

Ameiurus natalis can serve as a host to the glochidia—larvae of freshwater mussels of family Unionidae—of Cyclonaias tuberculata,[13] Tritogonia verrucosa[14] and Strophitus undulatus.

"[16] Charles Alexandre Lesueur, when he originally described the species in 1819, invented a common name Pimelode Noël, which likely commemorates the naturalist Simon Barthélemy Joseph Noël de la Morinière (1765–1822) and also may be the source of the specific name he assigned (from French: Noel), though it was not explicitly stated in either case.