Barbus Meridionalis is the scientific name for the Mediterranean barbel, a fish belonging to the Cyprinidae family of fish. Its natural habitats are rivers and intermittent rivers draining to Mediterranean from Besos near Barcelona, Spain to Var, near Nice in France.
The Mediterranean barbel has an elongated and stocky body covered with small scales. When mature the Mediterranean barbel reaches up to 70 cm in length and 1,5 kg in weight. It feeds on larvae and (rarely) plants.
Adult Mediterranean barbels often shoal being active during dusk and dawn. The Mediterranean barbell life span is of 15 years.
Male barbels reach sexual maturity at 2 to 5 years of age and females at 2 years.
Mediterranean barbel spawning season begins in early May and lasts until the end of June. Male barbel body color changes when spawning starts. .Usually males gather at spawning grounds and follow ripe females, often with much splashing, to shallow riffles. During the spawning act, one male swims head to head with the female. The rest of the males, wait in the spawning site, to later join the couple into fertilizing the eggs. Female barbels spawn several times during a season at intervals of 10 to 15 days. A mature female barbel can produce between 5.000 and 12.000 eggs. The eggs are slightly sticky and they easily attach to the stones or the gravel that covers the river bed. The young fry feed on a wide variety of benthic invertebrates and algae from the shallow shoreline habitats. As they grow the barbels leave the shores for faster-flowing waters
The Mediterranean barbel eggs are not eatable, showing some degree of toxicity. If eaten the barbel eggs can cause headaches, nausea and diarrhea.
The Mediterranean barbel is a tasty fish, although it has quite a few bones.
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