[2] It is found in the Danube and Vistula drainage basins, including parts of Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

It has a pair of barbels by the mouth which help it locate food and which are long enough to reach to the far side of the eye.

[4] Kessler's gudgeon is found in rivers and streams in the Danube basin and favours stretches of fast-flowing water with sandy bottoms where the gradient begins to ease off at the foot of the mountains.

[4] Kessler's gudgeon is gregarious and feeds on invertebrates that lie on the river bed and prey that drifts past on the current.

Its numbers are declining slowly but it is a common species and does not currently warrant a higher level category.