The Indian cormorant or Indian shag (''Phalacrocorax fuscicollis'') is a member of the

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...

family. It is found mainly along the inland waters of the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

but extends west to Sind and east to

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

. It is a gregarious species that can be easily distinguished from the similar sized little cormorant by its blue eyes, small head with a sloping forehead and a long narrow bill ending in a hooked tip.

Taxonomy

The Indian cormorant was

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

in 1826 by English naturalist

James Francis Stephens James Francis Stephens (16 September 1792 – 22 December 1852) was an England, English entomologist and naturalist. He is known for his 12 volume ''Illustrations of British Entomology'' (1846) and the ''Manual of British Beetles'' (1839). ...

and given the current binomial name ''Phalacrocorax fuscicollis''. The specific epithet combines the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''fuscus'' meaning "dusky" or "brown" with the

Modern Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

''-collis'' meaning "-necked". The species is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

: no

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised. A

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 2019 found that the Indian cormorant was

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

to the

little black cormorant The little black cormorant (''Phalacrocorax sulcirostris'') is a member of the cormorant family of seabirds. It is common in smaller rivers and lakes throughout most areas of Australia and northern New Zealand, where it is known as the little bla ...

. It is estimated that the two species split 2.5–3.2 million years ago during the late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58great cormorant The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), also known as just cormorant in Britain, as black shag or kawau in New Zealand, formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and ...

. Sexes are similar, but non-breeding adults and juveniles are browner.

Distribution and habitat

This cormorant fishes gregariously in inland rivers or large wetlands of peninsular India and the northern part of Sri Lanka. It also occurs in estuaries and mangroves but not on the open coast. They breed very locally in mixed species breeding colonies. They extend north-east to

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

and eastward into

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

and

Behaviour

The breeding season is July to February but depends on rainfall and water conditions. In northern India, they breed from July to February and in Sri Lanka, between November and February. The nest is a platform of twigs placed in the forks of partially submerged trees or of those growing on the islands. The nests are similar to those of other Indian cormorants, storks or waterbirds in dense colonies, often with several tiers of nests. The usual clutch is three to five eggs which are bluish green and with a chalky surface. The Indian cormorant makes short dives to capture the fish and a group will often fish communally, forming a broad front to drive fish into a corner. An echinostomatid parasite has been described from Sindh from this species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q749326

Indian cormorant The Indian cormorant or Indian shag (''Phalacrocorax fuscicollis'') is a member of the cormorant family. It is found mainly along the inland waters of the Indian Subcontinent but extends west to Sind and east to Thailand and Cambodia. It is a gre ...

Birds of South Asia Birds of Southeast Asia

Birds of Nepal