Northern gannet

Morus bassanus (Linnaeus, 1758)

The northern gannet (Morus bassanus) is a bird in the family Sulidae, order Suliformes. It is a medium-sized marine bird with an aerial lifestyle, a wingspan of 1.72 m and an adult body mass of 3.0 kg, with reported values from 2.932 kg to 3.067 kg.

Photo: Odd Wellies · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the northern gannet

The northern gannet is a carnivore and aquatic predator, and it is partially migratory. It lays one egg per clutch and one clutch per year, with an incubation period of 43.5 days, and reaches sexual maturity at 3 years; its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern.

Weight: 2.93 kg – 3.07 kgsrc for Weight
Length: 87 cm – 1 msrc for Length
Wingspan: 1.72 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan: 25.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan: 37.4 years
Main food: vertebratessrc for Main food
Habitat: marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 43.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 2.99 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 northern gannet?

At 1 m, the recorded maximum length of the northern gannet is about 59% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the northern gannet

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Northern gannet (Morus bassanus) — Alexis Lours · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the northern gannet live?

Not recorded

What is the northern gannet?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The northern gannet (Morus bassanus) is a seabird, the largest species of the gannet family, Sulidae. It is native to the coasts of the North Atlantic Ocean, breeding in Western Europe and Northeastern North America. It is the largest seabird in the northern Atlantic. The sexes are similar in appearance. The adult northern gannet has a mainly white streamlined body with a long neck, and long and slender wings. It is 87–100 cm (34+1⁄2–39+1⁄2 in) long with a 170–180 cm (67–71 in) wingspan. The head and nape have a buff tinge that is more prominent in breeding season, and the wings are edged with dark brown-black feathers. The long, pointed bill is blue-grey, contrasting with black, bare skin around the mouth and eyes. Juveniles are mostly grey-brown, becoming increasingly white in the five years it takes them to reach maturity.
Nesting takes place in colonies on both sides of the North Atlantic, the largest of which are at the Bass Rock (75,000 pairs as of 2014), St. Kilda (60,000 pairs as of 2013) and Ailsa Craig (33,000 pairs as of 2014) in Scotland, in Ireland (Sceilg Bheag; little Skellig, 35,000 pairs in 2011), Grassholm in Wales, and Bonaventure Island (60,000 pairs in 2009) off the coast of Quebec. Its breeding range has extended northward and eastward, with colonies being established on Russia's Kola Peninsula in 1995 and Bear Island (the southernmost island of Svalbard), in 2011. Colonies are mostly located on offshore islands with cliffs, from which the birds can more easily launch into the air. The northern gannet undertakes seasonal migrations and catches fish (which are the mainstay of its diet) by making high-speed dives into the sea up to 60 mph.
The northern gannet was previously hunted for food in certain parts of its range, and although that practice still continues in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and the Faroe Islands, the bird faces few other natural or man-made threats. Since its population is growing, the International Union for Conservation of Nature considers it a least-concern species. Because it is both a conspicuous and a common bird, it is referred to in several ancient myths and legends.

From the Wikipedia article “Northern gannet” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northern_gannet&oldid=1384618876), 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 northern gannet endangered?

The northern gannet 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 northern gannet classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderSuliformes
familySulidae
genusMorus
SpeciesMorus bassanus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Moris bassana, Morus bassanus bassanus, Pelecanus bassanus, Sula alba, Sula americana, Sula bassana, Sula bassana, Sula bassana, Sula bassana bassana, Sula bassanus, Sula major, Sula major

Other names and names in other languages (111)

Common gannetEnglish
GannetEnglish
GannetEnglish
Highland gooseEnglish
Solan gooseEnglish
Soland gooseEnglish
أطيش شماليArabic
الأطيش الشماليArabic
Voleta marinaAragonese
اطيش شمالىEgyptian Arabic
mazcatuAsturian
Şimal oluşasıAzerbaijani
Звычайная олушаBelarusian
Олуша паўночнаяBelarusian
Паўночная олушаBelarusian
Бял рибоядBulgarian
Morskoul boutinBreton
Mascarell comúCatalan
mascarell atlànticCatalan
terej bílýCzech
huganWelsh
HuganodWelsh
suleDanish
BasstölpelGerman
ΣούλαGreek
Βόρεια σούλαGreek
Σούλα του ΒορράGreek
Σούλα (του Βορρά)Greek
norda suloEsperanto
Bobo norteñoSpanish
Alcatraz atlánticoSpanish
suulaEstonian
ZangaBasque
Atlantikoko zangaBasque
قنات شمالیPersian
سفیدغاز شمالیPersian
Fou de BassanFrench
Jan faan GentNorthern Frisian
Jan-faan-GentNorthern Frisian
GaineadIrish
AsauScottish Gaelic
eòin bhàn an sgadainScottish Gaelic
eun bàn an sgadainScottish Gaelic
gainéadScottish Gaelic
SùlairScottish Gaelic
sùlaireScottish Gaelic
sùlaireanScottish Gaelic
MascatoGalician
Mascato comúnGalician
GantManx
סולה מצויהHebrew
סולה צפוניתHebrew
blunaCroatian
szulaHungarian
Gannet utaraIndonesian
súlaIcelandic
SulaItalian
Sula bassanaItalian
シロカツオドリJapanese
TimmikKalaallisut
Ескекаяқты олушаKazakh
북방가넷Korean
북부가넷Korean
SetherCornish
SethorCornish
MierdëlpesLuxembourgish
šiaurinis padūkėlisLithuanian
ziemeļu sullaLatvian
Taahilnoodii diniltsxooígííNavajo
havsuleNorwegian Bokmål
Jan vun GentLow German
Jan van GentDutch
Jan-van-GentDutch
Suuluolo
MargatPicard
głuptakPolish
głuptak (zwyczajny)Polish
Głuptak zwyczajnyPolish
اتلا گینٹWestern Panjabi
FacãoPortuguese
AlcatrazPortuguese
Alcatraz do NortePortuguese
alcatraz-do-nortePortuguese
atobá-borealPortuguese
Ganso-patolaPortuguese
ganso-patola-do-atlânticoPortuguese
олушRussian
Олуша севернаяRussian
Северная олушаRussian
solan guissScots
SuvlaNorthern Sami
SuvláNorthern Sami
sula bielaSlovak
strmoglavecSlovenian
Navadni strmoglavecSlovenian
Basani i çmendurAlbanian
БлунаSerbian
Obična blunaSerbian
havssulaSwedish
SümsükTurkish
sümsük kuşuTurkish
Олуша північнаUkrainian
Північна олушаUkrainian
сула атлантичнаUkrainian
Ó biển phương BắcVietnamese
北方塘鹅Wu Chinese
憨鰹雀Cantonese
北鲣鸟Chinese
北方鰹鳥Chinese
北方鰹鳥〔憨鰹鳥〕Chinese
北方鲣鸟Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata WoRMS IUCN Red List

Relatives of the northern gannet

Other species in the same genus Morus.

Australasian gannet

Morus serrator

Sulidae

Cape gannet

Morus capensis

Sulidae

CompareNorthern gannet vs Australasian gannet Northern gannet vs Cape gannet

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 northern gannet?

The northern gannet is a bird in the family Sulidae and order Suliformes. It is a medium-sized marine bird.

How big is the northern gannet?

The northern gannet has a wingspan of 1.72 m and an adult body mass of 3.0 kg, with reported values from 2.932 kg to 3.067 kg.

What does the northern gannet eat?

The northern gannet is a carnivore in the aquatic predator diet category.

Is the northern gannet endangered?

No. The northern gannet is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

How long does the northern gannet live?

The northern gannet has a lifespan of 25.33 years, with values up to 37.42 years reported by sources.

How many eggs does the northern gannet lay?

The northern gannet lays one egg per clutch and one clutch per year. The egg incubation period is 43.5 days.

What are other names for the northern gannet?

Other English names for the northern gannet are Gannet, Solan goose, Soland goose, Common gannet and Highland goose.

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).

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CreatureData. (2026). Northern gannet (Morus bassanus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-gannet

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BibTeX

@misc{northern_gannet_2026,
  title = {Northern gannet (Morus bassanus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-gannet},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}