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River

A river biome.

A river is a common biome. Rivers can serve as borders between various other biomes, and usually lead to oceans, although they can also form loops.

Description[]

Rivers are thin, lengthy biomes that frequently generate across the world. They typically serve as a division between two different biomes, but can also split a single biome in two. They are filled with water up to sea level, though rivers may run dry in certain areas due to higher than usual elevation. Saddle valleys in mountains can generate rivers, but often too high so that there's not any water. Rivers can vary a lot in width and depth, in generally flat areas rivers are usually around 10 blocks deep but in mountainous regions rivers can reach over 30 blocks in depth which is comparable to deep oceans. Sometimes rivers can also generate as lakes with small islands.

Exposed grass in rivers takes on a bluish-green hue and oak trees can rarely generate along with spare grass. Riverbeds consist of dirt, sand, gravel, and clay, and are one of the few places where clay generates, alongside lakes, swamp marshes, ocean hilltops, and lush caves. Sugar cane occasionally generates on the riverbank. Salmon and squid may spawn here.

Variants[]

There are two different river biomes.

River[]

The standard river variant. This is a very common biome in the game. The grass color is turquoise green, similar to the meadow and birch forest biomes. Vegetation is sparse, with occasional oak trees. Seagrass generates atop the riverbed.

Neither passive nor hostile‌[BE only] mobs (except drowned) spawn within river biomes themselves, but frequently wander into them from the surrounding biomes if they can spawn there. Drowned can spawn underwater, as can salmon and squid.

The following mobs are naturally spawned here:

In Java Edition
MobSpawn weightGroup size
Monster category
Creeper1006154
Drowned1006151
Skeleton1006154
Slime[note 1]1006154
Spider1006154
Zombie956154
Enderman106151–4
Witch56151
Zombie Villager56151
Water ambient category
Salmon11–5
Water creature category
Squid11–4
Ambient category
Bat18
Underground water creature category
Glow Squid14–6
  1. Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.
In Bedrock Edition
MobSpawn weightGroup size
Monster category
Drowned12–4
Creature category
Glow Squid10182–4
Squid8182–4
Water creature category
Salmon13–5

Frozen River[]

Frozen Rivers replace regular rivers in regions with snowy biomes. As the name implies, the top layer of water is entirely frozen. Seagrass does not generate on the riverbed. While sugar cane can generate alongside a frozen riverbank, it often quickly uproots itself after generation due to the water being frozen. Oak trees and grass can still generate here if this biome generates on land.

The following mobs are naturally spawned here:

In Java Edition
MobSpawn weightGroup size
Monster category
Creeper1005164
Skeleton1005164
Slime[note 1]1005164
Spider1005164
Zombie955164
Enderman105161–4
Witch55161
Zombie Villager55161
Drowned15161
Water ambient category
Salmon11–5
Water creature category
Squid11–4
Ambient category
Bat18
Underground water creature category
Glow Squid14–6
  1. Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.
In Bedrock Edition
MobSpawn weightGroup size
Monster category
Slime[note 1]1002251
Stray962251–2
Skeleton242251–2
Drowned52252–4
Creature category
Glow Squid10232–4
Squid8232–4
Rabbit4232–3
Polar Bear1231–2
Water creature category
Salmon13–5
  1. Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierTranslation key
Riverriverbiome.minecraft.river
Frozen Riverfrozen_riverbiome.minecraft.frozen_river

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID
[No displayed name]river7
[No displayed name]frozen_river11

History[]

This section is missing information about Legacy Console Edition. 
Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.
Java Edition Beta
August 18, 2011Notch tweeted a screenshot of a revamped river biome.
1.8Pre-releaseAdded rivers as a separate biome. Previously, were generated as part of the terrain generation algorithm.
Java Edition
1.0.0Beta 1.9 PrereleaseAdded frozen river.
1.1318w08bAdded salmon, which spawn in rivers.
18w11aAdded drowned, which spawn in rivers.
18w14aSeagrass now generates in rivers.
18w16aThe ID of frozen river has been changed from FrozenRiver to Frozen River.
1.13.118w31aSquid now spawn only in oceans and rivers, making them slightly more common in rivers, as there are fewer places elsewhere for them to spawn.
1.18experimental snapshot 4River biomes are less likely to form a steep, dry river gorge in mountainous terrain. Instead, they either carve a fjord through it, or they raise the terrain to form a valley.
Rivers that go through swamps tend to be more shallow.
experimental snapshot 5Rivers are less likely to be super deep or get choked off in flat areas.
Rivers tend to get shallow and merge with swamps instead of carving through them.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.0Added biomes, including rivers.
v0.13.0build 1Added rabbits, which can spawn in frozen rivers.
v0.15.0build 1Added strays, which spawn in frozen river biomes.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0alpha 0.17.0.1Added polar bears, which can spawn in frozen rivers.
Bedrock Edition
1.4.0beta 1.2.13.8Added drowned, which spawn in river biomes.
beta 1.2.14.2Added salmon, which spawn in rivers.
Rivers now generate with seagrass.
1.13.0beta 1.13.0.9Squid can now spawn in rivers.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "River" or "Frozen River" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

  • Both types of rivers override ravines at or close to the surface level, causing the ravine to be abruptly cut off by a wall of stone. However, if the ravine is long enough, it may continue on the other side of the river.
    • Ravines can generate underground in river biomes without being cut off.

Gallery[]

See also[]

External Links[]

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