Species sheet · The Edible River
Barbel
Four whiskers skimming the gravel.
- In a red wine matelote stew
- Baked and stuffed on a bed of onions
- Small ones deep-fried
- In French
- Barbeau fluviatile
- Scientific name
- Barbus barbus
- In the water
- A bottom-feeding fish of lively, stony European rivers, head down in the current rooting through gravel; it gives its name to the barbel zone.
- Season & buying
- An angler's fish more than a fishmonger's; in spring, at spawning time, its roe must be discarded.
- Common length
- ~50 cm
- How to identify it
- Four fleshy barbels around the mouth
Bronze back, pale belly, long powerful body
Pointed snout with a downward-facing mouth
On the plate
White, firm, flavourful flesh, but laced with many fine bones.
Avoid: Eating the roe: it is toxic and causes serious digestive upset. Gut carefully and discard the milt too.
The arms of the Duchy of Bar carry two barbel back to back: the 'bars' of the town's name, a medieval heraldic pun.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
