River - minecraft.fandom.com

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

Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
Monster category
Creeper	100⁄615	4
Drowned	100⁄615	1
Skeleton	100⁄615	4
Slime[note 1]	100⁄615	4
Spider	100⁄615	4
Zombie	95⁄615	4
Enderman	10⁄615	1–4
Witch	5⁄615	1
Zombie Villager	5⁄615	1
Water ambient category
Salmon	1	1–5
Water creature category
Squid	1	1–4
Ambient category
Bat	1	8
Underground water creature category
Glow Squid	1	4–6

In Bedrock Edition

Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
Monster category
Drowned	1	2–4
Creature category
Glow Squid	10⁄18	2–4
Squid	8⁄18	2–4
Water creature category
Salmon	1	3–5

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

Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
Monster category
Creeper	100⁄516	4
Skeleton	100⁄516	4
Slime[note 1]	100⁄516	4
Spider	100⁄516	4
Zombie	95⁄516	4
Enderman	10⁄516	1–4
Witch	5⁄516	1
Zombie Villager	5⁄516	1
Drowned	1⁄516	1
Water ambient category
Salmon	1	1–5
Water creature category
Squid	1	1–4
Ambient category
Bat	1	8
Underground water creature category
Glow Squid	1	4–6

In Bedrock Edition

Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
Monster category
Slime[note 1]	100⁄225	1
Stray	96⁄225	1–2
Skeleton	24⁄225	1–2
Drowned	5⁄225	2–4
Creature category
Glow Squid	10⁄23	2–4
Squid	8⁄23	2–4
Rabbit	4⁄23	2–3
Polar Bear	1⁄23	1–2
Water creature category
Salmon	1	3–5

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Translation key
River	river	biome.minecraft.river
Frozen River	frozen_river	biome.minecraft.frozen_river

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID
[No displayed name]	river	7
[No displayed name]	frozen_river	11

History[]

Java Edition Beta
August 18, 2011					Notch tweeted a screenshot of a revamped river biome.
1.8		Pre-release			Added rivers as a separate biome. Previously, were generated as part of the terrain generation algorithm.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease			Added frozen river.
1.13		18w08b			Added salmon, which spawn in rivers.
		18w11a			Added drowned, which spawn in rivers.
		18w14a			Seagrass now generates in rivers.
		18w16a			The ID of frozen river has been changed from FrozenRiver to Frozen River.
1.13.1		18w31a			Squid now spawn only in oceans and rivers, making them slightly more common in rivers, as there are fewer places elsewhere for them to spawn.
1.18		experimental snapshot 4			River 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 5			Rivers 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
v0.1.0					Added biomes, including rivers.
v0.13.0		build 1			Added rabbits, which can spawn in frozen rivers.
v0.15.0		build 1			Added strays, which spawn in frozen river biomes.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0		alpha 0.17.0.1			Added polar bears, which can spawn in frozen rivers.
Bedrock Edition
1.4.0		beta 1.2.13.8			Added drowned, which spawn in river biomes.
		beta 1.2.14.2			Added salmon, which spawn in rivers.
					Rivers now generate with seagrass.
1.13.0		beta 1.13.0.9			Squid can now spawn in rivers.

• 
  The first image of a river released by Notch.

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[]

• 
  A river near two forests.
• 
  A narrow river.
• 
  A frozen river in a cold biome.
• 
  A river separating a desert and a forest.
• 
  Rivers splitting and cutting through a taiga.
• 
  A river running through a desert.
• 
  A river running between a forest and windswept hills, with a sunset in the background.
• 
  A river in Java Edition 1.18 Experimental Snapshot 1.
• 
  A river that failed to generate properly due to a nearby mountain.
• 
  A circular river surrounding a small plains biome.
• 
  A river running through a swamp.
• 
  A big river.
• 
  A river buffet world.
• 
  A frozen river buffet world.
• 
  A river connected to a large lake in a jungle.
• 
  A big river flowing past a village.
• 
  A big river flowing past a village.
• 
  A river in a Cherry Grove.
• 
  Traveling by boat through a river.
• 
  A river flowing through a dark forest.

See also[]

• Swamp
• Beach
• Ocean

External Links[]

• Around the Block: River – Minecraft.net on October 22, 2020