Friday 24 May
In the News: Amphibians in the U.S. declining at alarming rate
Crested murrelet (Synthliboramphus wumizusume)
Crested murrelet fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Crested murrelet description
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Aves |
| Order | Charadriiformes |
| Family | Alcidae |
| Genus | Synthliboramphus (1) |
A small, plump bird, the crested murrelet has black and bluish-grey upperparts, fading to greyish flanks and a white throat and underparts. During the summer, the feathers of the head and the crest darken to black, and white stripes run from the top of the eyes to the nape of the neck. This species has yellow-grey feet and legs. Juveniles are browner than adults (2).
- Also known as
- Japanese murrelet.
- Size
- Length: 26 cm (2)
- BirdLife International. (2001) Threatened Birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
- By-catch
- In the fishing industry, the part of the catch made up of non-target species.
- Colonies
- A group of organisms living together. Individuals in the group are not physiologically connected and may not be related, such as a colony of birds.
- Pelagic
- Inhabiting the open oceans.
- Zooplankton
- Aquatic animals that drift with water movements.
- IUCN Red List (May, 2008)
http://www.iucnredlist.org - BirdLife International (May, 2005)
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/search/species_search.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=3314&m=0 - Global Register of Migratory Species (May, 2008)
http://www.groms.de - Explore Animals (May, 2005)
http://www.explore-animals.com/animals/A/Auk.html - BirdLife International. (2001) Threatened Birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
More »
Top
Related species
Crested murrelet biology
Built for swimming and diving, the crested murrelet has short wings that it must flap rapidly in order to stay airborne (4). It feeds on small fish and zooplankton just beneath the water surface (5).
This auk species nests in pairs, small groups and even large colonies (2) scratching a shallow depression in the ground for egg-laying (5). The breeding season varies with location, but is usually between mid February and early May. The female lays two eggs, the second a week after the first, and these hatch after 34 days of incubation (5).
TopCrested murrelet range
Breeding on uninhabited islands off the southern coasts of Japan and South Korea, the crested murrelet enjoys the warm climate of this area, which is created by the Kuroshio Current. In the non-breeding season, the crested murrelet migrates to the northernmost islands of Japan (2).
More »
Species with a similar range
See this species on Google Earth.
TopCrested murrelet habitat
This species breeds on rocky islets and headlands, foraging in offshore waters. In winter, it is more pelagic, spending much of the time far from land (2).
More »
Top
Species found in a similar habitat
Crested murrelet status
The crested murrelet is classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List 2007 (1) and is listed on Appendix I of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS or Bonn Convention) (3).
Crested murrelet threats
The crested murrelet faces a large number of threats from many sources. It is preyed upon by the introduced black rat (Rattus rattus), and by gulls and crows that are attracted to the islands by waste from fishing operations. Drift nets are known to cause high adult mortality, and sport fishing contributes to disturbance and habitat degradation, reducing breeding success. It is also possible that fish stocks in the area are declining due to changes in water temperature (2).
TopCrested murrelet conservation
Protected in Japan, several of the breeding sites of the crested murrelet are also designated as National Wildlife Protection Areas. Gugul Islet, South Korea, which is home to this species, has been designated as a Natural Monument. In Japan a leaflet has been produced to inform fishermen of the plight of the crested murrelet, but ideally, sport fishing needs to be prevented at crested murrelet breeding sites and drift nets should be re-designed to reduce by-catch (2).
|
View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre. |
Find out more
For further information on the crested murrelet see:
Authentication
This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact: arkive@wildscreen.org.ukTopGlossary
References
More »Related species
This species is featured in:
This species is affected by global climate
change. To learn about climate change
and the species that are affected,
visit our climate change pages.
Sign up to our newsletter
Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.
Get involved
ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!
Friday 24 May
Thursday 23 May
X
Close
Close
Image credit
Crested murrelet swimming on ocean surface
© Mike Danzenbaker / www.avesphoto.com
Mike Danzenbaker
http://www.avesphoto.com
X
Close
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
X
Close
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
X
Close
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.