Aves |
Charadriiformes |
Laridae
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Others; freshwater; brackish. Tropical; 84°N - 36°S, 130°W - 128°E (Ref. 124582)
Indo-Pacific, Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic. Tropical to polar.
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm Max length : 66.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 8812); max. published weight: 1.1 kg (Ref. 356)
Culmen: 5.09 cm; tarsus: 5.715 cm; wing: 41.15 cm.
Total Length: 56 to 66 cm; Wingspan: 137 (Ref. 8812) to 147 cm (Ref. 84934). Total population is unknown but with over 1,000,000 pairs in the Palearctic and over 150,000 pairs in eastern North America. Population has expanded and is now considered a pest in some European countries (Ref. 84934). Colonies of these birds can extend to 2 km (Ref. 87784). It has a 70% dispersal rate (Ref. 87790). Dipping; surface seizing; shallow plunge diving; coastal; <100 km (Ref. 356). Largely dependent on freshwater and terrestrial environments. Feeds mostly on non-fish vertebrate prey. In the North Sea off the coasts of Scotland and northern England, is known to partially feed on the sandeel, Ammodytes marinus (Ref. 95711). Breeds colonially in a wide variety of habitats including roofs in North America, Europe and northeast Asia (Ref. 84934). One of its observed behavior is to balance between attack and fleeing, these birds redirects their aggression and attack to a substitute object like grass pulling (Ref. 87789). As for coloniality, they visit breeding colonies for a year to select a colony, a potential nesting site, and to obtain a mate to determine if the site is where young are successfully reared (Ref. 84934).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Stiles, F.G. 1984 Status and conservation of seabirds in Costa Rican waters. In Croxall, J.P., Evans, P.G.H. and Schreiber, R.W. (eds.), Status and Conservation of the World's Seabirds. ICBP Technical Publication 2:223-229. (Ref. 5856)
IUCN Red List Status
(Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)
CITES status (Ref. 108899)
Not Evaluated
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Human uses
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Tools
More information
Population dynamicsGrowthMax. ages / sizesLength-weight rel.Length-length rel.Length-frequenciesMass conversionAbundance Life cycleReproduction
Maturity
Fecundity
Spawning
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
PhysiologyOxygen consumption
Human RelatedStamps, coins, misc.
Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature
(Ref.
115969): 2.6 - 24.3, mean 10.1 (based on 3678 cells).
Resilience
High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=23.52-45.31).
Fishing Vulnerability
Moderate to high vulnerability (46 of 100).
Price category
Unknown.
