---
title: "European Bitterling"
description: "Rhodeus amarus — Fish. The European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus) is a temperate freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acheilognathidae, the bitterlings."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/european-bitterling
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# European Bitterling

> Rhodeus amarus — Fish. The European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus) is a temperate freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acheilognathidae, the bitterlings.

- Scientific name: *Rhodeus amarus*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers)
- iNaturalist observations: 1661
- Wikidata: [Q1402074](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1402074)
- iNaturalist taxon: [111757](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/111757)

## Names

- en: European Bitterling
- de: Bitterling
- es: Bermejuela Europea
- fr: Bouvière
- nl: Bittervoorn
- pl: Różanka europejska

## Countries with the most observations

RU (846), UA (126), IT (74), DE (59), NL (53), FR (41), HU (35), SK (33), GB (32), HR (30), BE (25), AT (23)

## Summary

The European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus) is a temperate freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acheilognathidae, the bitterlings. It originates in Europe, ranging from the Rhone River basin in France to the Neva River in Russia. It was originally described as Cyprinus amarus by Marcus Elieser Bloch in 1782, and has been referred to in scientific literature as Rhodeus sericeus amarus. It is known simply as "the bitterling" in its native range, where it is the only species of its genus Rhodeus, and sometimes in the scientific literature, also, but this is technically wrong, being a leftover from the times…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bitterling

## Photo

![European Bitterling](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/european-bitterling/medium.jpg)

Photo: Branislav Tej · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/78494616

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/european-bitterling?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).