The Southern Sand Darter is restricted to Coastal Plain rivers and larger streams in the Mobile Basin in Mississippi and Alabama. All Sand darters are translucent, so they blend in with the sand substrate they live upon. The Southern Sand Darter lives in the same habitat as the Naked Sand Darter (A. beanii), but they are fairly easy to tell apart. Southern Sand Darters have a body that is completely covered in scales, whereas the Naked Sand Darter lacks body scales except along the lateral line and on the caudal peduncle (region just before the caudal fin).