Diagnosis: Differs from other Noturus elegans species group by the following: anal fin more elongate with modally 18 rays (vs. 16); Nape with boldly contrasting pigment pattern of 3-4 ivory to yellow ellipses; dorsum interrupted by dark chocolate brown saddles (vs. pale blotches not strongly contrasting); adipose fin blotch extending to middle of fin, but nearly always to its edge (vs. blotch in lower half of fin or confined to base); small, dark saddle on ventral edge of caudal peduncle (vs. dark saddle absent from caudal peduncle); adipose fin rather high, intermediate in length and weakly connected to caudal fin (vs. low, long in length, and moderately connected to caudal fin in N. crypticus or moderate in height and length and well connected to caudal fin in N. elegans); diffuse band or crescent-shaped dark blotch at caudal fin base (vs. dark crescent-shaped blotch absent at caudal fin base); modally 36 post Weberian vertebrae (vs. modally 34-35); slender body shape, with body width at pectoral fin origin 21 % or less of SL and shorter than anal fin base length (vs. body width 23% or more of SL and longer than anal fin base length in N. crypticus). Noturus elegans and N. fasciatus differ by 6.6% sequence divergence (uncorrected p) for Cytb and unique genotype distributions for eight allozyme loci: s-AAT-A, FUM-A, GPI-A, sICDH-A, LDH-B, MPI-A, Pep-B, and PGM-A (Ref. 56218).