# Great cormorant (*Phalacrocorax carbo*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-cormorant  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

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. 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.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 2 kg – 2.53 kg |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 1.4 m |
| Lifespan | 21.6 years |
| Diet | Aquatic predator |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 27.2 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland |
| Egg incubation | 29 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 3.75 |
| Age at maturity | 4 years |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Lifestyle | Aquatic |
| Migration | Partial |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | 1 country |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Suliformes
- family: Phalacrocoracidae
- genus: Phalacrocorax
- species: *Phalacrocorax carbo* (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms: *Carbo cormoranus*, *Halieus lucidus*, *Pelecanus carbo*, *Pelecanus phalacrocorax*, *Phalacrocorax carbo lucidus*, *Phalacrocorax lucidus*

## Countries on record

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.

Australia

## Common questions

### 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

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), 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](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), 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](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), 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](https://commons.wikimedia.org), 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](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), 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).

Cite as: Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-cormorant