Great cormorants can stay underwater for up to three minutes, plunging as deep as 9.5 metres. Their dives last between one and three minutes and most (about 60 %) reach the benthic zone, while a smaller proportion target the pelagic layer. This ability lets them chase fish both on the seabed and in the water column, giving them access to a wide range of prey.
During the breeding season the bird's throat bears a bare patch of skin that forms an acute angle in the nominate subspecies, a key clue for distinguishing it from close relatives. This gular skin patch is yellow or sometimes red and sits at the base of the stout, hooked bill. In other subspecies the same patch forms an obtuse angle, helping observers tell the forms apart in the field.
Mass mortality events have killed over 1,700 great cormorants in the Baltic Sea during the 2021-2022 avian influenza outbreaks. The disease spreads rapidly in their dense colonies, causing large numbers of birds to die in a short period. Such outbreaks highlight the vulnerability of colonial-breeding seabirds to highly pathogenic viruses.
In traditional cormorant fishing, a line is tied around the bird's throat so it cannot swallow large catches and it is deployed from a small boat. The fisherman lets the bird keep one fish out of every eight it catches to keep it motivated.
Sources
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As the Great Cormorant glides effortlessly across the water's surface, its sleek, serpentine body leaves barely a ripple in its wake, a testament to the mastery of its aquatic realm. With wings held aloft, it dives with precision, plummeting into the depths with a silence that belies the deadly intent of its pursuit, emerging moments later with a fish clutched triumphantly in its beak. In this fluid, almost ethereal dance, the Great Cormorant embodies the perfect union of form and function, a true marvel of evolutionary adaptation.
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