Antarctic tern
Sterna vittata J. F. Gmelin, 1789
The Antarctic tern (Sterna vittata) is a species in the family Laridae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 139 g to 140 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the Antarctic tern
- Weight
- 139 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 74 cm – 79 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 18 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 24.3 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1.5 – 2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the Antarctic tern?
Where does the Antarctic tern live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The Antarctic tern is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the Antarctic tern?
The Antarctic tern (Sterna vittata) is a seabird in the family Laridae. It ranges throughout the southern oceans and is found on small islands around Antarctica as well as on the shores of the mainland. Its diet consists primarily of small fish and crustaceans. It is very similar in appearance to the closely related Arctic tern, but it is stockier, and it is in its breeding plumage in the southern summer, when the Arctic tern has shed old feathers to get its non-breeding plumage. The Antarctic tern does not migrate like the Arctic tern does, but it can still be found on a very large range. This tern species is actually more closely related to the South American tern.
Gulls, skuas and jaegers are the primary predators of the bird's eggs and young.
The Antarctic tern can be further divided into six subspecies. The total global population of this bird is around 140,000 individuals.
From the Wikipedia article “Antarctic tern” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antarctic_tern&oldid=1356716440), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the Antarctic tern endangered?
The Antarctic tern is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the Antarctic tern classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyLaridae
- genusSterna
- SpeciesSterna vittata J. F. Gmelin, 1789
Synonyms Sterna antistropha, Sterna macrura antistropha
Other names and names in other languages (41)
- ANTEEnglish
- Wreathed ternEnglish
- Grysborsseeswael (Grysborssterretjie)Afrikaans
- خرشنة القطب الجنوبيArabic
- Антарктическа рибаркаBulgarian
- xatrac antàrticCatalan
- rybák jižníCzech
- Môr-wennol y DeWelsh
- SydhavsterneDanish
- AntarktikseeschwalbeGerman
- AntarktisseeschwalbeGerman
- Antipoden-SeeschwalbeGerman
- AntipodenseeschwalbeGerman
- antarkta ŝternoEsperanto
- Charrán antárticoSpanish
- Charrán AntárcticoSpanish
- Gaviotín antárticoSpanish
- lõunatiirEstonian
- eteläntiiraFinnish
- Sterne couronnéeFrench
- Sterne subantarctiqueFrench
- antarktiszi csérHungarian
- Sterna antarticaItalian
- ナンキョクアジサシJapanese
- antarktinė žuvėdraLithuanian
- ZuidpoolsternDutch
- Antarctische sternDutch
- sørhavsterneNorwegian
- rybitwa antarktycznaPolish
- gaivina-do-antárticoPortuguese
- andorinha-do-mar-antárcticaPortuguese
- trinta-réis-antárticoPortuguese
- Антарктическая крачкаRussian
- rybár rajskýSlovak
- Antarktička čigraSerbian
- antarktistärnaSwedish
- Antarktik sumruTurkish
- Antarktika SumrusuTurkish
- крячок антарктичнийUkrainian
- 南极燕鸥Chinese
- 南極燕鷗Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the Antarctic tern
Other species in the same genus Sterna.
Common tern
Sterna hirundo
Arctic tern
Sterna paradisaea
Roseate tern
Sterna dougallii
River tern
Sterna aurantia
Black-naped tern
Sterna sumatrana
Forster's tern
Sterna forsteri
CompareAntarctic tern vs Common ternAntarctic tern vs Arctic ternAntarctic tern vs Roseate ternAntarctic tern vs River tern
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the Antarctic tern?
An adult Antarctic tern weighs 139 g and has a wingspan of 74 cm – 79 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the Antarctic tern live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the Antarctic tern for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the Antarctic tern endangered?
The Antarctic tern is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the Antarctic tern?
The Antarctic tern (Sterna vittata) belongs to the family Laridae in the order Charadriiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Antarctic tern (Sterna vittata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/antarctic-tern
“Antarctic tern (Sterna vittata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/antarctic-tern.
@misc{antarctic_tern_2026,
title = {Antarctic tern (Sterna vittata)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/antarctic-tern},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}