Atlantic white tern
Gygis alba (Sparrman, 1786)
The Atlantic white tern (Gygis alba) is a species in the family Laridae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 115.5 g to 379.5 g and live up to 17.8 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the Atlantic white tern
- Weight
- 115.5 g – 379.5 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 78 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 17.8 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 29.8 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 36 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 4.83 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the Atlantic white tern?
Where does the Atlantic white tern live?
Not recorded
What is the Atlantic white tern?
The Atlantic white tern (Gygis alba), also known as the common white tern, is a small seabird found in the Atlantic Ocean. It is sometimes known as the fairy tern, although this name is potentially confusing as it is also the common name of Sternula nereis. Other names for the species include angel tern and white noddy. The blue-billed white tern (Gygis candida) and the little white tern (Gygis microrhyncha) have sometimes been considered as subspecies of the Atlantic white tern.
From the Wikipedia article “Atlantic white tern” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atlantic_white_tern&oldid=1383448822), 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 Atlantic white tern endangered?
The Atlantic white 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 Atlantic white tern classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyLaridae
- genusGygis
- SpeciesGygis alba (Sparrman, 1786)
Other names and names in other languages (85)
- Angel ternEnglish
- Angel ternEnglish
- Atlantic FairyternEnglish
- Atlantic white-ternEnglish
- Atoll ternEnglish
- Common white ternEnglish
- Common white ternEnglish
- Common white-ternEnglish
- Common white-ternEnglish
- Fairy gullEnglish
- Fairy ternEnglish
- Fairy ternEnglish
- White noddyEnglish
- White ternEnglish
- White ternEnglish
- White ternEnglish
- White tern (Atlantic)English
- Atlantiese WitsterretjieAfrikaans
- ابلة أبيضArabic
- خرشنة بيضاءArabic
- خرشنة جنيةArabic
- Adi ağ susüpürənAzerbaijani
- Бяла рибаркаBulgarian
- Обикновена бяла рибаркаBulgarian
- xatrac blanc comúCatalan
- xatrac blanc atlànticCatalan
- nody bělostnýCzech
- môr-wennol wenWelsh
- Atlantisk SilketerneDanish
- FeenseeschwalbeGerman
- blanka ŝternoEsperanto
- Charrán BlancoSpanish
- Charrán blanco atlánticoSpanish
- Charrán blanco comúnSpanish
- Charrán Blanco del AtlánticoSpanish
- Gaviotín Albo del AtlánticoSpanish
- Gaviotín Blanco AtlanticoSpanish
- Gaviotín Blanco del AtlánticoSpanish
- Palomita del Espíritu SantoSpanish
- haldjastiirEstonian
- پرستوی دریایی سفیدPersian
- keijutiiraFinnish
- Gygis blancheFrench
- bijela čigraCroatian
- tündércsérHungarian
- Dara-laut putihIndonesian
- BjartþernaIcelandic
- Sterna biancaItalian
- シロアジサシJapanese
- 흰제비갈매기Korean
- baltoji fėjaLithuanian
- baltais zīriņšLatvian
- FotsivatanaMalagasy
- വെൺ കടലാളMalayalam
- Kotakemrv
- atlantersilketerneNorwegian Bokmål
- OpaalsternDutch
- Atlantische opaalsternDutch
- witte sternDutch
- silketerneNorwegian
- atolówkaPolish
- atolówka białaPolish
- Rybitwa białaPolish
- چٹی ٹرنWestern Panjabi
- grazinaPortuguese
- gaivina-brancaPortuguese
- tinhosa-brancaPortuguese
- trinta-réis-brancoPortuguese
- Gaulettercf
- Белая крачкаRussian
- gygis bielySlovak
- Bela čigraSerbian
- Atlantska bela čigraSerbian
- fetärnaSwedish
- atlantfetärnaSwedish
- Tala teaTongan
- Sütbeyaz SumruTurkish
- Atlantik Sütbeyaz SumrusuTurkish
- крячок білийUkrainian
- Звичайний білий крячокUkrainian
- Крячок білий атлантичнийUkrainian
- 白燕鷗Chinese
- 白燕鸥Chinese
- 白玄鷗Chinese
- 白玄鸥Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the Atlantic white tern
Other species in the same family Laridae.
Black-headed gull
Chroicocephalus ridibundus
European herring gull
Larus argentatus
Common gull
Larus canus
Common tern
Sterna hirundo
Lesser black-backed gull
Larus fuscus
Arctic tern
Sterna paradisaea
CompareAtlantic white tern vs Black-headed gullAtlantic white tern vs European herring gullAtlantic white tern vs Common gullAtlantic white tern vs Common tern
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the Atlantic white tern?
An adult Atlantic white tern weighs 115.5 g – 379.5 g and has a wingspan of 78 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the Atlantic white tern endangered?
The Atlantic white tern is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the Atlantic white tern live?
The Atlantic white tern has a recorded lifespan of 17.8 years.
What kind of animal is the Atlantic white tern?
The Atlantic white tern (Gygis alba) 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). Atlantic white tern (Gygis alba). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/atlantic-white-tern
“Atlantic white tern (Gygis alba).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/atlantic-white-tern.
@misc{atlantic_white_tern_2026,
title = {Atlantic white tern (Gygis alba)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/atlantic-white-tern},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}