Black-faced cormorant
Phalacrocorax fuscescens (Vieillot, 1817)
The black-faced cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscescens) is a species in the family Phalacrocoracidae, order Suliformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.42 kg to 1.52 kg and live up to 8.92 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the black-faced cormorant
- Weight
- 1.42 kg – 1.52 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 93 cm – 1.07 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 8.92 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2 – 3src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the black-faced cormorant?
Photos of the black-faced cormorant
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the black-faced cormorant 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 black-faced cormorant is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the black-faced cormorant?
The black-faced cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscescens), also known as the black-faced shag, is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. Upperparts, including facial skin and bill, are black, with white underparts. It is endemic to coastal regions of southern Australia.
From the Wikipedia article “Black-faced cormorant” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black-faced_cormorant&oldid=1313915775), 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 black-faced cormorant endangered?
The black-faced cormorant 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. What the categories mean.
How is the black-faced cormorant classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderSuliformes
- familyPhalacrocoracidae
- genusPhalacrocorax
- SpeciesPhalacrocorax fuscescens (Vieillot, 1817)
Synonyms Carbo gouldi tunneyi, Compsohaelius fuscescens, Hydrocorax fuscescens, Hypoleucus gouldi, Leucocarbo fuscescens, Phalacrocorax leucogaster
Other names and names in other languages (38)
- غاق داكنArabic
- غاق أسود الوجهArabic
- corb marí de TasmàniaCatalan
- kormorán tasmánskýCzech
- Mulfran WynebdduWelsh
- Sortmasket SkarvDanish
- SchwarzgesichtscharbeGerman
- tasmania kormoranoEsperanto
- Nigravizaĝa kormoranoEsperanto
- Cormorán carinegroSpanish
- tasmaania kormoran (tasmaania karbas)Estonian
- Tasmaania kormoranEstonian
- باکلان صورتسیاهPersian
- tasmanianmerimetsoFinnish
- Cormoran de TasmanieFrench
- tasmanski vranacCroatian
- feketeképű kárókatonaHungarian
- Cormorano faccianeraItalian
- ムナジロウJapanese
- インドヒメウJapanese
- baltakrūtis kormoranasLithuanian
- witbuikaalscholverDutch
- BlauwmaskeraalscholverDutch
- tasmanskarvNorwegian
- kormoran czarnoczelnyPolish
- biguá-de-cara-pretaPortuguese
- corvo-marinho-da-tasmâniaPortuguese
- corvo-marinho-de-cara-pretaPortuguese
- Белогрудый бакланRussian
- Чернолицый бакланRussian
- kormorán čiernolíciSlovak
- Crnoliki australijski vranacSerbian
- svartmaskad skarvSwedish
- Tasmanya KarabatağıTurkish
- Tazmanya KarabatağıTurkish
- баклан білогрудийUkrainian
- 黑脸鸬鹚Chinese
- 黑臉鸕鷀Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the black-faced cormorant
Other species in the same genus Phalacrocorax.
Great cormorant
Phalacrocorax carbo
Indian cormorant
Phalacrocorax fuscicollis
Japanese cormorant
Phalacrocorax capillatus
Little black cormorant
Phalacrocorax sulcirostris
Cape cormorant
Phalacrocorax capensis
Spotted shag
Phalacrocorax punctatus
CompareBlack-faced cormorant vs Great cormorantBlack-faced cormorant vs Indian cormorantBlack-faced cormorant vs Japanese cormorantBlack-faced cormorant vs Little black cormorant
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the black-faced cormorant?
An adult black-faced cormorant weighs 1.42 kg – 1.52 kg and has a wingspan of 93 cm – 1.07 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the black-faced cormorant live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the black-faced cormorant for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the black-faced cormorant endangered?
The black-faced cormorant is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the black-faced cormorant live?
The black-faced cormorant has a recorded lifespan of 8.92 years.
What kind of animal is the black-faced cormorant?
The black-faced cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscescens) belongs to the family Phalacrocoracidae in the order Suliformes.
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). Black-faced cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscescens). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-faced-cormorant
“Black-faced cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscescens).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-faced-cormorant.
@misc{black_faced_cormorant_2026,
title = {Black-faced cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscescens)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-faced-cormorant},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}