They can be distinguished by these characteristics: The common roach is found throughout Europe except for the area around the Mediterranean, and its distribution reaches eastward into Siberia.

[3] It was introduced in Australia in the Murray River and coastal drainages of southern New South Wales and Victoria from Europe during the 1860s and 1880s for sport purposes.

[3] The common roach is very adaptable and can be found in any freshwater ecosystem, ranging from small ponds to the largest rivers and lakes.

[4] In most parts of its distribution, it is the most numerous fish, but it can be surpassed by the common bream in biomass in water bodies with high turbidity and sparse vegetation.

The common roach eats a wide range of foods, from plant material, bottom-dwelling (benthic) invertebrates, to worms and maggots.

Roach can adapt to environments where invertebrates are scarce by slowing their growth, maintaining slender body shapes, and maturing early.

[4] Roach are known to be parasitised by Rhipidocotyle campanula (fluke), Myxobolus muelleri (myxozoa) and Raphidascaris acus (nematode).