Barbatula is a genus in the family Balitoridae. Length 13-15 cm, weight 20-25 g. The body is bare or almost bare. Scales, if present, are only on the sides of the body, small, hardly noticeable. Three pairs of antennae. Mouth lower. Colour orange, golden or yellowish with dark spots. 

Benthic fish. They feed on invertebrates, insect larvae and plant food. They live in the waters of Europe (except for the southern part), the northern Pacific (the coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk, Sakhalin, the Korean peninsula, Hokkaido, Mongolia, China) and the Arctic Ocean basin (from the Ob to the Kolyma). 

The most widespread and numerous are the moustached char (Barbatula barbatula) and the Siberian char (Barbatula toni). They mature in the second or third year of life. Spawning takes place from May to June. The eggs are laid on pebbles, sand or aquatic vegetation. Fecundity from 2.5 to 6.0 thousand eggs. They feed on bottom invertebrates (larvae of chironomids, mayflies, brook flies, spring flies, etc.), algae, fish eggs, including their own. Moustached char are not commercially important.