The Banded Sculpin lives in swift riffles over rubble bottoms in clear, permanent streams. They eat the larvae of stoneflies, mayflies, and caddisflies, as well as amphipods, small mollusks, crayfish, and small fish.
Banded Sculpins are abundant in Ozark streams. The Sculpin enters Kansas only where reliable springs maintain a streamflow cool and clear enough to sustain the species through the summer. It is now known only from Shoal Creek, Cherokee County.