Masked finfoot
Heliopais personatus (G. R. Gray, 1849)
The masked finfoot (Heliopais personatus) is a species in the family Heliornithidae, order Gruiformes. Recorded adults weigh about 510 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Critically Endangered.
Quick facts about the masked finfoot
- Weight
- 510 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 5.7src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Critically Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the masked finfoot live?
Not recorded
What is the masked finfoot?
The masked finfoot or Asian finfoot (Heliopais personatus) is a highly endangered aquatic bird that was formerly distributed throughout the fresh and brackish wetlands of the eastern Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia and Indonesia. Like the rest of the family, the African finfoot and the sungrebe, the relationship to other birds is poorly understood.
From the Wikipedia article “Masked finfoot” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Masked_finfoot&oldid=1329662979), 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 masked finfoot endangered?
The masked finfoot is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
- 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 Critically Endangered species. What the categories mean.
How is the masked finfoot classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderGruiformes
- familyHeliornithidae
- genusHeliopais
- SpeciesHeliopais personatus (G. R. Gray, 1849)
Synonyms Heliopais personata, Podica personata
Other names and names in other languages (35)
- Asian finfootEnglish
- Asian finfootEnglish
- زعنفي القدم المقنعArabic
- heliorni asiàticCatalan
- chřástalec maskovýCzech
- Asiatisk SvømmerikseDanish
- MaskenbinsenralleGerman
- azia grebraloEsperanto
- Avesol asiáticoSpanish
- aasia redulindEstonian
- aasianuikkukanaFinnish
- Grébifoulque d'AsieFrench
- Grébifoulque d’AsieFrench
- žutokljuni sunčacCroatian
- Álarcos búvárcsibeHungarian
- Pedendang topengIndonesian
- Svassorallo asiaticoItalian
- アジアヒレアシJapanese
- マレーヒレアシJapanese
- 아시아지느러미발Korean
- azijinė skiautėtakojė vištelėLithuanian
- MaskerfuutkoetDutch
- gulnebbsvømmerikseNorwegian
- perkołyska indyjskaPolish
- picaparra-mascaradaPortuguese
- pés-de-barbatana-asiáticoPortuguese
- Азиатский лапчатоногRussian
- chriašteľovec žltozobýSlovak
- Azijski sunčani gnjuracSerbian
- asiatisk simrallSwedish
- นกฟินฟุตThai
- Asya BatağanyelvesiTurkish
- лапчастоніг азійськийUkrainian
- 亚洲鳍趾䴘Chinese
- 擬鰭腳日鷈Chinese
Relatives of the masked finfoot
Other species in the same family Heliornithidae.
African finfoot
Podica senegalensis
Sungrebe
Heliornis fulica
CompareMasked finfoot vs African finfootMasked finfoot vs Sungrebe
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the masked finfoot?
An adult masked finfoot weighs 510 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the masked finfoot endangered?
The masked finfoot is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
What kind of animal is the masked finfoot?
The masked finfoot (Heliopais personatus) belongs to the family Heliornithidae in the order Gruiformes.
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). Masked finfoot (Heliopais personatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/masked-finfoot
“Masked finfoot (Heliopais personatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/masked-finfoot.
@misc{masked_finfoot_2026,
title = {Masked finfoot (Heliopais personatus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/masked-finfoot},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}