Phalacrocoracidae is a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of approximately 40
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...
of
aquatic bird
A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seab ...
s commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the
IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven
genera. The
great cormorant
The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), known as the black shag in New Zealand and formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and the large cormorant in India, is a w ...
(''Phalacrocorax carbo'') and the
common shag (''Gulosus aristotelis'') are the only two species of the family commonly encountered in Britain and Ireland and "cormorant" and "shag" appellations have been later assigned to different species in the family somewhat haphazardly.
Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large birds, with body weight in the range of and wing span of . The majority of species have dark feathers. The bill is long, thin and hooked. Their feet have webbing between all four toes. All species are fish-eaters, catching the prey by diving from the surface. They are excellent divers, and under water they propel themselves with their feet with help from their wings; some cormorant species have been found to dive as deep as . They have relatively short wings due to their need for economical movement underwater, and consequently have the highest flight costs of any flying bird.
Cormorants nest in colonies around the shore, on trees, islets or cliffs. They are coastal rather than oceanic birds, and some have colonised inland waters. The original ancestor of cormorants seems to have been a fresh-water bird. They range around the world, except for the central Pacific islands.
Names
No consistent distinction exists between cormorants and shags. The names 'cormorant' and 'shag' were originally the common names of the two species of the family found in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
, ''Phalacrocorax carbo'' (now referred to by ornithologists as the
great cormorant
The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), known as the black shag in New Zealand and formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and the large cormorant in India, is a w ...
) and ''Gulosus aristotelis'' (the
European shag). "Shag" refers to the bird's crest, which the British forms of the great cormorant lack. As other species were encountered by
English-speaking
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
sailors and explorers elsewhere in the world, some were called cormorants and some shags, depending on whether they had crests or not. Sometimes the same species is called a cormorant in one part of the world and a shag in another, e.g., the great cormorant is called the black shag in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
(the birds found in
Australasia
Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologic ...
have a crest that is absent in European members of the species).
Van Tets (1976) proposed to divide the family into two
genera and attach the name "cormorant" to one and "shag" to the other, but this nomenclature has not been widely adopted.
The scientific
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
name is
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
ised
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
, from φαλακρός (''phalakros'', "bald") and κόραξ (''korax'', "raven").
This is often thought to refer to the creamy white patch on the cheeks of adult
great cormorant
The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), known as the black shag in New Zealand and formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and the large cormorant in India, is a w ...
s, or the ornamental white head plumes prominent in Mediterranean birds of this species, but is certainly not a unifying characteristic of cormorants. "Cormorant" is a
contraction
Contraction may refer to:
Linguistics
* Contraction (grammar), a shortened word
* Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons
* Elision, omission of sounds
** Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word
* Synalepha, merged ...
derived either directly from Latin ''corvus marinus'', "sea raven" or through
Brythonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
.
Cormoran is the
Cornish name of the sea giant in the tale of
Jack the Giant Killer. Indeed, "sea raven" or analogous terms were the usual terms for cormorants in
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...
until after the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
. The French explorer
André Thévet commented in 1558, "... the beak
ssimilar to that of a cormorant or other corvid," which demonstrates that the erroneous belief that the birds were related to ravens lasted at least to the 16th century.
Description
Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large
seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envir ...
s. They range in size from the
pygmy cormorant (''Microcarbo pygmaeus''), at as little as and , to the
flightless cormorant (''Nannopterum harrisi''), at a maximum size and . The recently extinct
spectacled cormorant
The spectacled cormorant or Pallas's cormorant (''Urile perspicillatus'') is an extinct marine bird of the cormorant family of seabirds that inhabited Bering Island and possibly other places in the Komandorski Islands and the nearby coast of Ka ...
(''Urile perspicillatus'') was rather larger, at an average size of . The majority, including nearly all Northern Hemisphere species, have mainly dark
plumage, but some Southern Hemisphere species are black and white, and a few (e.g. the
spotted shag of New Zealand) are quite colourful. Many species have areas of coloured skin on the face (the
lores and the
gular skin) which can be bright blue, orange, red or yellow, typically becoming more brightly coloured in the breeding season. The bill is long, thin, and sharply hooked. Their feet have webbing between all four toes, as in their relatives.
Habitat
They are coastal rather than oceanic birds, and some have colonised inland waters – indeed, the original ancestor of cormorants seems to have been a fresh-water bird, judging from the habitat of the most ancient lineage. They range around the world, except for the central Pacific islands.
Behaviour
All cormorants and shags are fish-eaters, dining on small
eels, fish, and even water snakes. They dive from the surface, though many species make a characteristic half-jump as they dive, presumably to give themselves a more streamlined entry into the water. Under water they propel themselves with their feet, though some also propel themselves with their wings (see the picture, commentary, and existing reference video). Imperial shag cormorants fitted with miniaturized video recorders have been filmed diving to depths of as much as to forage on the sea floor.
After fishing, cormorants go ashore, and are frequently seen holding their wings out in the sun. All cormorants have
preen gland
The uropygial gland, informally known as the preen gland or the oil gland, is a bilobed sebaceous gland possessed by the majority of birds used to distribute the gland's oil through the plumage by means of preening. It is located dorsally at the ...
secretions that are used ostensibly to keep the feathers waterproof. Some sources state that cormorants have waterproof feathers while others say that they have water-''permeable'' feathers. Still others suggest that the outer plumage absorbs water but does not permit it to penetrate the layer of air next to the skin. The wing drying action is seen even in the flightless cormorant but not in the Antarctic shags or red-legged cormorants. Alternate functions suggested for the spread-wing posture include that it aids
thermoregulation
Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperatur ...
or digestion, balances the bird, or indicates presence of fish. A detailed study of the great cormorant concludes that it is without doubt to dry the plumage.
Cormorants are colonial nesters, using trees, rocky islets, or cliffs. The
eggs are a chalky-blue colour. There is usually one brood a year. Parents
regurgitate food to feed their young, whose deep, ungainly bills show a greater resemblance to those of the
pelican
Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...
s (to which they are related) than is obvious in the adults.
Taxonomy
The cormorants are a group traditionally placed within the
Pelecaniformes or, in the
Sibley–Ahlquist taxonomy, the expanded
Ciconiiformes. This latter group is certainly not a natural one, and even after the
tropicbirds have been recognised as quite distinct, the remaining Pelecaniformes seem not to be entirely
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...
. Their relationships and delimitation – apart from being part of a "higher waterfowl"
clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...
which is similar but not identical to Sibley and Ahlquist's "pan-Ciconiiformes" – remain mostly unresolved. Notwithstanding, all evidence agrees that the cormorants and shags are closer to the
darters and
Sulidae (gannets and boobies), and perhaps the pelicans or even
penguin
Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adap ...
s, than to all other living birds.
In recent years, three preferred treatments of the cormorant family have emerged: either to leave all living cormorants in a single genus, ''Phalacrocorax'', or to split off a few species such as the
imperial shag complex (in ''Leucocarbo'') and perhaps the
flightless cormorant. Alternatively, the genus may be disassembled altogether and in the most extreme case be reduced to the
great
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
,
white-breasted and
Japanese cormorants. In 2014, a landmark study proposed a 7 genera treatment, which was adopted by the
IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolo ...
and
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
, and later by the
IOC in 2021, standardizing it.
[
The cormorants and the darters have a unique bone on the back of the top of the skull known as the ''os nuchale'' or occipital style which was called a xiphoid process in early literature. This bony projection provides anchorage for the muscles that increase the force with which the lower mandible is closed. This bone and the highly developed muscles over it, the M. adductor mandibulae caput nuchale, are unique to the families Phalacrocoracidae and Anhingidae.
Several ]evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
ary groups are still recognizable. However, combining the available evidence suggests that there has also been a great deal of convergent evolution
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...
; for example the cliff shags are a convergent paraphyletic
In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In ...
group. The proposed division into ''Phalacrocorax sensu stricto'' (or subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...
"Phalacrocoracinae") cormorants and ''Leucocarbo sensu lato'' (or "Leucocarboninae") shags does have some degree of merit.[Kennedy ''et al.'' (2000)] The resolution provided by the mtDNA 12S rRNA
Mitochondrially encoded 12S ribosomal RNA (often abbreviated as 12S or 12S rRNA), also known as Mitochondrial-derived peptide MOTS-c or Mitochondrial open reading frame of the 12S rRNA-c is the SSU rRNA of the mitochondrial ribosome. In humans, ...
and ATPase
ATPases (, Adenosine 5'-TriPhosphatase, adenylpyrophosphatase, ATP monophosphatase, triphosphatase, SV40 T-antigen, ATP hydrolase, complex V (mitochondrial electron transport), (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase, HCO3−-ATPase, adenosine triphosphatase) are ...
subunits six and eight sequence
In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called ...
data is not sufficient to properly resolve several groups to satisfaction; in addition, many species remain unsampled, the fossil record has not been integrated in the data, and the effects of hybridisation – known in some Pacific species especially – on the DNA sequence data are unstudied.
A multigene molecular phylogenetic
Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
study published in 2014 provided a genus-level phylogeny of the family.
List of genera
As per the IOC, the IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolo ...
and BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
, the family contains 7 genera:
Prior to 2021, the IOC classified all these species in just ''Microcarbo'', ''Phalacrocorax'', and ''Leucocarbo''.
Some authorities such as the Clements Checklist have just two genera, ''Microcarbo'' with 5 species, and the rest in ''Phalacrocorax.''
For details, see the article " List of cormorant species".
Evolution and fossil record
Cormorants have a very ancient body plan, with similar birds reaching back to the time of the dinosaurs. In fact, the earliest known modern bird, '' Gansus yumenensis'', had essentially the same structure. The details of the evolution of the cormorant are mostly unknown. Even the technique of using the distribution and relationships of a species to figure out where it came from, biogeography, usually very informative, does not give very specific data for this probably rather ancient and widespread group. However, the closest living relatives of the cormorants and shags are the other families of the suborder
Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...
Sulae
The order Suliformes (, dubbed "Phalacrocoraciformes" by ''Christidis & Boles 2008'') is an order recognised by the International Ornithologist's Union. In regard to the recent evidence that the traditional Pelecaniformes is polyphyletic, it has ...
— darters and gannets and boobies—which have a primarily Gondwana
Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final sta ...
n distribution. Hence, at least the modern diversity of Sulae probably originated in the southern hemisphere.
While the Leucocarbonines are almost certainly of southern Pacific origin—possibly even the Antarctic which, at the time when cormorants evolved, was not yet ice-covered—all that can be said about the Phalacrocoracines is that they are most diverse in the regions bordering the Indian Ocean, but generally occur over a large area.
Similarly, the origin of the family is shrouded in uncertainties. Some Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...
fossils have been proposed to belong with the Phalacrocoracidae:
A scapula
The scapula (plural scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on eith ...
from the Campanian-Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the inte ...
boundary, about 70 mya (million years ago), was found in the Nemegt Formation in Mongolia; it is now in the PIN collection. It is from a bird roughly the size of a spectacled cormorant, and quite similar to the corresponding bone in ''Phalacrocorax''. A Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the inte ...
(Late Cretaceous, c. 66 mya) right femur
The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates ...
, AMNH FR 25272 from the Lance Formation near Lance Creek, Wyoming, is sometimes suggested to be the second-oldest record of the Phalacrocoracidae; this was from a rather smaller bird, about the size of a long-tailed cormorant
The reed cormorant (''Microcarbo africanus''), also known as the long-tailed cormorant, is a bird in the cormorant family Phalacrocoracidae. It breeds in much of Africa south of the Sahara, and Madagascar. It is resident but undertakes some se ...
. However, cormorants likely originated much later, and these are likely misidentifications.
As the Early Oligocene
The Rupelian is, in the geologic timescale, the older of two ages or the lower of two stages of the Oligocene Epoch/ Series. It spans the time between . It is preceded by the Priabonian Stage (part of the Eocene) and is followed by the Chattian ...
''"Sula" ronzoni'' cannot be assigned to any of the suloid families—cormorants and shags, darters, and gannets and boobies—with certainty, the best interpretation is that the Phalacrocoracidae diverged from their closest ancestors in the Early Oligocene, perhaps some 30 million years ago, and that the Cretaceous fossils represent ancestral suloids, "pelecaniforms" or "higher waterbirds"; at least the last lineage is generally believed to have been already distinct and undergoing evolutionary radiation at the end of the Cretaceous. What can be said with near certainty is that AMNH FR 25272 is from a diving bird that used its feet for underwater locomotion; as this is liable to result in some degree of convergent evolution and the bone is missing indisputable neornithine features, it is not entirely certain that the bone is correctly referred to this group.
Phylogenetic evidence indicates that the cormorants diverged from their closest relatives, the darters, during the Late Oligocene, indicating that most of the claims of Cretaceous or early Paleogene cormorant occurrences are likely misidentifications.
During the late Paleogene, when the family presumably originated, much of Eurasia was covered by shallow seas, as the Indian Plate
The Indian Plate (or India Plate) is a minor tectonic plate straddling the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, the Indian Plate broke away from the other fragments of Gondwana , began ...
finally attached to the mainland. Lacking a detailed study, it may well be that the first "modern" cormorants were small species from eastern, south-eastern or southern Asia, possibly living in freshwater habitat, that dispersed due to tectonic
Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents ...
events. Such a scenario would account for the present-day distribution of cormorants and shags and is not contradicted by the fossil record; as remarked above, a thorough review of the problem is not yet available.
Two distinct genera of prehistoric cormorants are widely accepted today, if ''Phalacrocorax'' is used for all living species:
* '' Limicorallus'' (Indricotherium middle Oligocene of Chelkar-Teniz, Kazakhstan)
* '' Nectornis'' (Late Oligocene/Early Miocene of Central Europe – Middle Miocene of Bes-Konak, Turkey) – includes ''Oligocorax miocaenus''
The proposed genus ''Oligocorax'' appears to be paraphyletic
In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In ...
– the European species have been separated in ''Nectornis'', and the North American ones are placed in the expanded ''Phalacrocorax''. A Late Oligocene fossil cormorant foot from Enspel, Germany, sometimes placed herein, would then be referable to ''Nectornis'' if it proves not to be too distinct. All these early European species might belong to the basal group of "microcormorants", as they conform with them in size and seem to have inhabited the same habitat: subtropical coastal or inland waters. ''Limicorallus'', meanwhile, was initially believed to be a rail or a dabbling duck
The Anatinae are a subfamily of the family Anatidae (swans, geese and ducks). Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving. The other members of the Anatinae are the extinct moa-nalo, a yo ...
by some. There are also undescribed remains of apparent cormorants from the Quercy Phosphorites
Quercy (; oc, Carcin , locally ) is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue a ...
of Quercy
Quercy (; oc, Carcin , locally ) is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue and ...
(France), dating to some time between the Late Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...
and the mid-Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but t ...
.
Some other Paleogene remains are sometimes assigned to the Phalacrocoracidae, but these birds seem quite intermediate between cormorants and darters (and lack clear autapomorphies of either). Thus, they may be quite basal members of the Palacrocoracoidea. The taxa in question are:
* '' Piscator'' (Late Eocene of England)
* "Pelecaniformes" gen. et sp. indet. (Jebel Qatrani Early Oligocene of Fayum, Egypt) – similar to ''Piscator''?
* '' Borvocarbo'' (Late Oligocene of C Europe)
The supposed Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene ''" Valenticarbo"'' is a ''nomen dubium
In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application.
Zoology
In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...
'' and given its recent age probably not a separate genus.
The remaining species are, in accordance with the scheme used in this article, all placed in the modern genus ''Phalacrocorax'':
* ''Phalacrocorax marinavis'' (Oligocene – Early Miocene of Oregon, US) – formerly ''Oligocorax''
* ''Phalacrocorax littoralis'' (Late Oligocene/Early Miocene of St-Gérand-le-Puy, France) – formerly ''Oligocorax'', might belong into ''Nectornis''
* ''Phalacrocorax intermedius'' (Early – Middle Miocene of C Europe) – includes ''P. praecarbo, Ardea/P. brunhuberi'' and ''Botaurites avitus''
* ''Phalacrocorax macropus'' (Early Miocene – Pliocene of north-west US)
* ''Phalacrocorax ibericus'' (Late Miocene of Valles de Fuentiduena, Spain)
* ''Phalacrocorax lautus'' (Late Miocene of Golboçica, Moldavia)
* ''Phalacrocorax serdicensis'' (Late Miocene of Hrabarsko, Bulgaria)
* ''Phalacrocorax femoralis'' (Modelo Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of WC North America) – formerly ''Miocorax''
* ''Phalacrocorax'' sp. (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, US)
* ''Phalacrocorax longipes'' (Late Miocene – Early Pliocene of the Ukraine) – formerly ''Pliocarbo''
* ''Phalacrocorax goletensis'' (Early Pliocene – Early Pleistocene of Mexico)
* ''Phalacrocorax wetmorei'' (Bone Valley Early Pliocene of Florida)
* ''Phalacrocorax'' sp. (Bone Valley Early Pliocene of Polk County, Florida, US)
* ''Phalacrocorax leptopus'' (Juntura Early/Middle Pliocene of Juntura, Malheur County
Malheur County () is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,571. Its county seat is Vale, and its largest city is Ontario. The county was named after the Malheur River, which runs ...
, Oregon, US)
* ''Phalacrocorax idahensis'' (Middle Pliocene – Pleistocene of Idaho, US)
* ''Phalacrocorax destefanii'' (Late Pliocene of Italy) – formerly ''Paracorax''
* ''Phalacrocorax filyawi'' (Pinecrest Late Pliocene of Florida, US) – may be ''P. idahensis''
* ''Phalacrocorax kumeyaay'' (San Diego Late Pliocene of California, US)
* ''Phalacrocorax macer'' (Late Pliocene of Idaho, US)
* ''Phalacrocorax mongoliensis'' (Late Pliocene of W Mongolia)
* ''Phalacrocorax rogersi'' (Late Pliocene – Early Pleistocene of California, US)
* ''Phalacrocorax kennelli'' (San Diego Pliocene of California, US)
* ''Phalacrocorax'' sp. "Wildhalm" (Pliocene) – may be same as ''P. longipes''
* ''Phalacrocorax chapalensis'' (Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene of Jalisco, Mexico)
* ''Phalacrocorax gregorii'' (Late Pleistocene of Australia) – possibly not a valid species
* ''Phalacrocorax vetustus'' (Late Pleistocene of Australia) – formerly ''Australocorax'', possibly not a valid species
* ''Phalacrocorax reliquus''
* ''Phalacrocorax'' sp. (Sarasota County, Florida, US) – may be ''P. filawyi/idahensis''
The former ''"Phalacrocorax"'' (or ''"Oligocorax"'') ''mediterraneus'' is now considered to belong to the bathornithid '' Paracrax antiqua''. ''"P." subvolans'' was actually a darter (''Anhinga'').
In human culture
Cormorant fishing
Humans have used cormorants' fishing skills in various places in the world. Archaeological evidence suggests that cormorant fishing was practised in Ancient Egypt, Peru, Korea and India, but the strongest tradition has remained in China and Japan, where it reached commercial-scale level in some areas. In Japan, cormorant fishing is called . Traditional forms of ''ukai'' can be seen on the Nagara River in the city of Gifu
is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku p ...
, Gifu Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, ...
, where cormorant fishing has continued uninterrupted for 1300 years, or in the city of Inuyama, Aichi. In Guilin
Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the nort ...
, Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ...
, cormorants are famous for fishing on the shallow Li River
The Li River or Li Jiang () is the name for the upper reaches of the Gui River in northwestern Guangxi, China. It is part of the Xijiang River system in the Pearl River Basin. The river flows from Xing'an County to Pingle County, where the ka ...
. In Gifu, the Japanese cormorant (''P. capillatus'') is used; Chinese fishermen often employ great cormorant
The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), known as the black shag in New Zealand and formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and the large cormorant in India, is a w ...
s (''P. carbo''). In Europe, a similar practice was also used on Doiran Lake
Doiran Lake (, ''Dojransko Ezero''; , ''Límni Dhoïráni''), also spelled Dojran Lake is a lake with an area of shared between North Macedonia () and Greece ().
To the west is the city of Nov Dojran (Нов Дојран), to the east the v ...
in the region of Macedonia. James VI and I
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
appointed a keeper of cormorants, John Wood, and built ponds at Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
to train the birds to fish.[James Edmund Harting, ''The Ornithology of Shakespeare'' (London, 1871), p. 262: Frederick Devon, ''Issues of the Exchequer'' (London, 1836), pp. 333-5.]
In a common technique, a snare is tied near the base of the bird's throat, which allows the bird only to swallow small fish. When the bird captures and tries to swallow a large fish, the fish is caught in the bird's throat. When the bird returns to the fisherman's raft, the fisherman helps the bird to remove the fish from its throat. The method is not as common today, since more efficient methods of catching fish have been developed, but is still practised as a cultural tradition.[
]
In folklore, literature, and art
Cormorants feature in heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...
and medieval ornamentation, usually in their "wing-drying" pose, which was seen as representing the Christian cross, and symbolizing nobility and sacrifice. For John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and politica ...
in ''Paradise Lost
''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 16 ...
'', the cormorant symbolizes greed: perched atop the Tree of Life
The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A Hist ...
, Satan
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...
took the form of a cormorant as he spied on Adam and Eve during his first intrusion into Eden.
In some Scandinavian areas, they are considered good omen; in particular, in Norwegian tradition spirits of those lost at sea come to visit their loved ones disguised as cormorants. For example, the Norwegian municipalities of Røst, Loppa
Loppa ( sme, Láhppi and fkv, Lappea) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Øksfjord. Other villages in Loppa include Andsnes, Bergsfjord, Langfjordhamn, ...
and Skjervøy
Skjervøy kommune ( sme, Skiervvá suohkan; fkv, Kieruan komuuni) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Skjervøy on the island of Skjervøya, where most of the inh ...
have cormorants in their coat of arms. The symbolic liver bird of Liverpool is commonly thought to be a cross between an eagle and a cormorant.
In Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, Odysseus (Ulysses) is saved by a compassionate sea nymph who takes the form of a cormorant.
In 1853, a woman wearing a dress made of cormorant feathers was found on San Nicolas Island, off the southern coast of California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. She had sewn the feather dress together using whale sinews. She is known as the Lone Woman of San Nicolas and was later baptised " Juana Maria" (her original name is lost). The woman had lived alone on the island for 18 years before being rescued. When removed from San Nicolas, she brought with her a green cormorant dress she made; this dress is reported to have been removed to the Vatican.
The bird has inspired numerous writers, including Amy Clampitt
Amy Clampitt (June 15, 1920 – September 10, 1994) was an American poet and author.
Life
Clampitt was born on June 15, 1920, of Quaker parents, and brought up in New Providence, Iowa. In the American Academy of Arts and Letters and at nearby G ...
, who wrote a poem
Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meaning ...
called "The Cormorant in its Element". The species she described may have been the pelagic cormorant, which is the only species in the temperate U.S. with the "slim head ... vermilion-strapped" and "big black feet" that she mentions.
A cormorant representing Blanche Ingram appears in the first of the fictional paintings by Jane
Jane may refer to:
* Jane (given name), a feminine given name
* Jane (surname), related to the given name
Film and television
* Jane (1915 film), ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd
* Jane (2016 film), ''Jane'' (20 ...
in Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature.
She enlisted i ...
's novel ''Jane Eyre
''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...
''.
In the Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
story "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
"The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger" (1927), one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as ''The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes''.
Synopsis
Holmes is ...
", Dr. Watson warns that if there are further attempts to get at and destroy his private notes regarding his time with Holmes, "the whole story concerning the politician, the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant will be given to the public. There is at least one reader who will understand."
A cormorant is humorously mentioned as having had linseed oil rubbed into it by a wayward pupil during the "Growth and Learning" segment of the 1983 Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fou ...
movie '' Monty Python's The Meaning of Life''.
The cormorant served as the hood ornament
A hood ornament (or bonnet ornament in Commonwealth English), also called, motor mascot, or car mascot is a specially crafted model which symbolizes a car company like a badge, located on the front center portion of the hood. It has been used ...
for the Packard
Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958.
One of the "Th ...
automobile brand.
Cormorants (and books about them written by a fictional ornithologist) are a recurring fascination of the protagonist in Jesse Ball
Jesse Ball (born June 7, 1978) is an American novelist and poet. He has published novels, volumes of poetry, short stories, and drawings. His works are distinguished by the use of a spare style and have been compared to those of Jorge Luis Borges ...
's 2018 novel ''Census''.
The Pokémon
(an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise.
In terms of what each of thos ...
Cramorant, featured in the 8th generation of the video game series may take its name and design from a cormorant.
The cormorant was chosen as the emblem for the Ministry of Defence Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham. A bird famed for flight, sea fishing and land nesting was felt to be particularly appropriate for a college that unified leadership training and development for the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force.
After a member produced a mock magazine cover from a photograph of roosting Cormorants, the bird became the unofficial mascot of the Pentax Discuss Mailing List with many posts dedicated to discussion of the photography of the species.
https://www.mail-archive.com/search?q=cormorant&l=pdml%40pdml.net
See also
* Anhinga
The anhinga (; ''Anhinga anhinga''), sometimes called snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The word ''anhinga'' comes from ''a'ñinga'' in the Brazilian Tupi language and means ...
* Cormorant culling
Cormorant culling is the intentional killing of cormorants by humans for the purposes of wildlife management. It has been practiced for centuries, with supporters of culling generally arising from the angling community. Culling techniques may in ...
References
Sources
* Benson, Elizabeth (1972): ''The Mochica: A Culture of Peru''. Praeger Press, New York.
* Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum (1997) ''The Spirit of Ancient Peru: Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera.'' Thames and Hudson
Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...
, New York.
*
* Dorst, J. & Mougin, J.L. (1979): Family Phalacrocoracidae. ''In:'' Mayr, Ernst & Cottrell, G.W. (eds.): ''Check-List of the Birds of the World'' Vol. 1, 2nd ed. (Struthioniformes, Tinamiformes, Procellariiformes, Sphenisciformes, Gaviiformes, Podicipediformes, Pelecaniformes, Ciconiiformes, Phoenicopteriformes, Falconiformes, Anseriformes): 163–179. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge.
* Hope, Sylvia (2002): The Mesozoic radiation of Neornithes. ''In:'' Chiappe, Luis M. & Witmer, Lawrence M. (eds.): Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs: 339–388.
*
* IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
(2007):
2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
'. IUCN, Gland.
*
*
*
*
* Orta, Jaume (1992): Family Phalacrocoracidae. ''In'': del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (eds.): '' Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 1 (Ostrich to Ducks)'': 326–353, plates 22–23. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
* Robertson, Connie (1998)
''Book of Humorous Quotations''
Wordsworth Editions.
*
* Thevet, F. André (1558)
About birds of Ascension Island
''In: Les singularitez de la France Antarctique, autrement nommee Amerique, & de plusieurs terres & isles decouvertes de nostre temps'': 39–40. Maurice de la Porte heirs, Paris.
* van Tets, G. F. (1976): Australasia and the origin of shags and cormorants, Phalacrocoracidae. ''Proceedings of the XVI International Ornithological Congress'': 121–124.
External links
Cormorant videos
on the Internet Bird Collection
*
First video of cormorant deep sea dive
by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the National Research Council of Argentina
WCS press release, 2012-07-31
{{Authority control
Phalacrocoracidae
Seabirds
Taxa named by Ludwig Reichenbach
Taxa described in 1850
Extant Oligocene first appearances