In Great Britain it is usually referred to simply as the barbel; similar names are used elsewhere in Europe, such as barbeau in France and flodbarb in Sweden.

[3] It is an adaptable fish which transplants well between waterways, and has become established as an introduced species in several countries including Scotland,[4] Morocco and Italy.

[11] Their sloping foreheads, flattened undersides, slender bodies and horizontally oriented pectoral fins are all adaptations for their life in swift, deep rivers, helping to keep them close to the riverbed in very strong flows.

[13] Their underslung mouths make them especially well adapted for feeding on benthic organisms, including crustaceans, insect larvae and mollusks, which they root out from the gravel and stones of the riverbed.

[12] Females produce between 8,000 and 12,000 eggs per kilogram of body weight, which are fertilised by males as they are released and deposited in shallow excavations in the gravel of the riverbed.

[19] Parasites of B. barbus include Aspidogaster limacoides, a trematode flatworm;[20] Eustrongylides sp., a nematode; and Pomphorhynchus laevis, an acanthocephalan worm.

[24][25] Badham relates the experience of Italian physician Antonio Gazius, who, he says, "took two boluses, and thus describes his sensations: 'At first I felt no inconvenience, but some hours having elapsed, I began to be disagreeably affected, and as my stomach swelled, and could not be brought down again by anise or carminatives, I was soon in a state of great depression and distress.'

The use of barbel roe as a poison is mentioned in Nostradamus Les Prophéties, century VII, 24 : He who was buried will come out of the tomb, he will make the strong one out of the bridge to be bound with chains.

For example, the relatively small River Wensum in the county of Norfolk was of national importance to barbel anglers from the 1970s until the early 2000s, at one time producing the British record fish.

In the UK, popular baits include tinned luncheon meat, fishmeal-based pellets, hemp seed, maggots, and boilies.

[33] The UK and European Barbel record of 21 lb 2 oz (9.59 kg) was landed by Colin Smithson from the River Rother at Fittleworth West Sussex in 2019.