Great cormorant
Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus, 1758)
The great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) is a bird in the family Phalacrocoracidae, order Suliformes. It is a medium-sized bird with an adult body mass of 2.529 kg and a wingspan of 1.4 m.
Quick facts about the great cormorant
An aquatic predator and carnivore, it lives in wetland habitat, forages in water and is partially migratory. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 2 kg – 2.53 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 1.4 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 21.6 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 27.2 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 29 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.75src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 4 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the great cormorant?
Photos of the great cormorant
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpeg){kind=link}
Where does the great 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 great cormorant 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 great cormorant?
The great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), also known as just cormorant in Britain, as black shag or kawau in New Zealand, formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and the large cormorant in India, is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds. It breeds in much of the Old World, Australasia, and the Atlantic coast of North America.
From the Wikipedia article “Great cormorant” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_cormorant&oldid=1381185299), 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 great cormorant endangered?
The great 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.
How is the great cormorant classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderSuliformes
- familyPhalacrocoracidae
- genusPhalacrocorax
- SpeciesPhalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Carbo cormoranus, Halieus lucidus, Pelecanus carbo, Pelecanus phalacrocorax, Phalacrocorax carbo lucidus, Phalacrocorax lucidus
Other names and names in other languages (147)
- Black shagEnglish
- Common cormorantEnglish
- CormorantEnglish
- Great black cormorantEnglish
- Large cormorantEnglish
- Long-tailed cormorantEnglish
- White-breasted cormorantEnglish
- GrootkormorantAfrikaans
- SchealforOld English
- غاق كبيرArabic
- الغاق الكبيرArabic
- غاقة كبيرةArabic
- Gallo marinoAragonese
- Mabea grandeAsturian
- mobeya grandeAsturian
- Böyük qarabatdaqAzerbaijani
- Баклан вялікіBelarusian
- Вялікі бакланBelarusian
- Вялiкi бакланBelarusian
- Голям корморанBulgarian
- Обикновен корморанBulgarian
- Morvran vrasBreton
- Ехэ хойхоBuriat
- CorpetassaCatalan
- corb marí grosCatalan
- ПӑркасанChuvash
- Мăн бакланChuvash
- kormorán velkýCzech
- mulfranWelsh
- BilidowcarWelsh
- MulfrainWelsh
- skarvDanish
- Skarv StorskarvDanish
- ScharbeGerman
- KormoranGerman
- ScholverGerman
- AliecDinka
- ΚορμοράνοςGreek
- Ευρωπαϊκός ΚορμοράνοςGreek
- (Ευρωπαϊκός) ΚορμοράνοςGreek
- granda kormoranoEsperanto
- Cormorán grandeSpanish
- KarbasEstonian
- kormoran e. karbasEstonian
- Ubarroi handiBasque
- Ubarroi handiaBasque
- باکلان بزرگPersian
- merimetsoFinnish
- HiplingurFaroese
- Grand CormoranFrench
- IalgusNorthern Frisian
- IelgoesWestern Frisian
- AmplóirIrish
- BroigheallIrish
- sgarbhScottish Gaelic
- broighealScottish Gaelic
- sgairbhScottish Gaelic
- Corvo mariño grandeGalician
- ScarrooManx
- જળ કાગડોGujarati
- મોટો કાજીયોGujarati
- קורמורן גדולHebrew
- kárókatonaHungarian
- Nagy kárókatonaHungarian
- Մեծ ձկնկուլArmenian
- Kormoran besarIndonesian
- Pacuk-Padi BesarIndonesian
- Pecuk-padi besarIndonesian
- DílaskarfurIcelandic
- CormoranoItalian
- Cormorano comuneItalian
- MarangoneItalian
- カワウJapanese
- 河鵜Japanese
- KawauJapanese
- დიდი ჩვამაGeorgian
- OqaatsoqKalaallisut
- jirrinyjarrkgs
- Үлкен суқұзғынKazakh
- ನೀರು ಕಾಗೆKannada
- ಉದ್ದಕೊಕ್ಕಿನ ನೀರುಕಾಗೆKannada
- 민물가마우지Korean
- قەلمراوی گەورەKurdish
- Qirmiraviya reşKurdish
- MorvranCornish
- Magrun grossu neigruLigurian
- IelsjolverLimburgish
- didysis kormoranasLithuanian
- jūras krauklisLatvian
- голем корморанMacedonian
- നീര്ക്കാക്കMalayalam
- വലിയ നീർക്കാക്കMalayalam
- MargunMaltese
- Тураг гогойMongolian
- मोठा पाणकावळाMarathi
- Dendang AirMalay
- Tábąąh zhį́ʼii ntsaaígííNavajo
- storskarvNorwegian Bokmål
- NodderLow German
- जलेवाNepali
- aalscholverDutch
- Cormorannrm
- Corbs marinOccitan
- БакланOssetic
- Grand camàrinPicard
- Kormoran czarnyPolish
- kormoran (zwyczajny)Polish
- kormoran zwyczajnyPolish
- وڈا کورمینٹWestern Panjabi
- corvo-marinho-comumPortuguese
- Corvo-marinhoPortuguese
- corvo-marinho-de-faces-brancasPortuguese
- Cormoran mareRomanian
- cormoranul mareRomanian
- Баклан большойRussian
- большой бакланRussian
- КорморанRusyn
- ScarfScots
- SkárfaNorthern Sami
- මහ දියකාවාSinhala
- kormorán veľkýSlovak
- Veliki kormoranSlovenian
- korb ujiAlbanian
- karabullaku i detiAlbanian
- Karabullaku i detitAlbanian
- vrançi i madhAlbanian
- Veliki vranacSerbian
- Велики вранацSerbian
- Bелики корморанSerbian
- Veliki vranac - Велики вранакSerbian
- Crovu e mariSardinian
- பெரிய நீர் காகம்Tamil
- பெரிய நீர்க்காகம்Tamil
- นกกาน้ำใหญ่Thai
- karabatakTurkish
- Büyük karabatakTurkish
- Кара балыкчыTuvinian
- Баклан великийUkrainian
- Великий бакланUkrainian
- Cốc đếVietnamese
- ButstekkerWest Flemish
- AâlscholverZeelandic
- 鸕鶿Chinese
- 普通鸕鶿Chinese
- 普通鸕鷀Chinese
- 普通鸬鹚Chinese
- 鸕鷀Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the great cormorant
Other species in the same genus Phalacrocorax.
Indian cormorant
Phalacrocorax fuscicollis
Japanese cormorant
Phalacrocorax capillatus
Little black cormorant
Phalacrocorax sulcirostris
Cape cormorant
Phalacrocorax capensis
Black-faced cormorant
Phalacrocorax fuscescens
Spotted shag
Phalacrocorax punctatus
CompareGreat cormorant vs Indian cormorantGreat cormorant vs Japanese cormorantGreat cormorant vs Little black cormorantGreat cormorant vs Cape cormorant
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the great cormorant?
The great cormorant is a bird in the family Phalacrocoracidae and the order Suliformes.
How heavy is the great cormorant?
The great cormorant has an adult body mass of 2.529 kg, placing it in the medium size class.
What does the great cormorant eat?
The great cormorant is an aquatic predator and a carnivore.
Which countries is the great cormorant recorded in?
Checklists record the great cormorant in Australia.
Is the great cormorant endangered?
No. The great cormorant is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does the great cormorant live?
The great cormorant has a lifespan of 21.62 years, and our sources report values up to 27.17 years.
How many eggs does the great cormorant lay?
The great cormorant has a clutch size of 3.75, with 1 clutch per year and an incubation period of 29 days.
Who named the great cormorant?
The great cormorant was named Phalacrocorax carbo by (Linnaeus, 1758).
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). Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-cormorant
“Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-cormorant.
@misc{great_cormorant_2026,
title = {Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-cormorant},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}