Oriental darter
Anhinga melanogaster Pennant, 1769
The oriental darter (Anhinga melanogaster) is a species in the family Anhingidae, order Suliformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.48 kg to 1.54 kg and live up to 16 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the oriental darter
- Weight
- 1.48 kg – 1.54 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 1.14 m – 1.28 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 16 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 28 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.9 – 4src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the oriental darter?
Where does the oriental darter live?
Not recorded
What is the oriental darter?
The Oriental darter (Anhinga melanogaster) is a water bird of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. It has a long and slender neck with a straight, pointed bill and, like the cormorant, it hunts for fish while its body is submerged in water. It spears a fish underwater, bringing it above the surface, tossing and juggling it before swallowing the fish head first. The body remains submerged as it swims, and the slender neck alone is visible above the water, which accounts for the colloquial name of snakebird. Like the cormorants, it has wettable feathers and it is often found perched on a rock or branch with its wings held open to dry.
From the Wikipedia article “Oriental darter” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oriental_darter&oldid=1369485606), 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 oriental darter endangered?
The oriental darter 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 oriental darter classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderSuliformes
- familyAnhingidae
- genusAnhinga
- SpeciesAnhinga melanogaster Pennant, 1769
Synonyms Anhinga melanogaster melanogaster
Other names and names in other languages (72)
- African darterEnglish
- AnhingaEnglish
- DarterEnglish
- قاذف أحمرArabic
- Индийска змиешийкаBulgarian
- গয়ারBangla
- Evn-naer IndiaBreton
- anhinga asiàticCatalan
- Afitorador OrientalCatalan
- Anhinga asiàticaCatalan
- anhinga indomalajskáCzech
- anhinga rezaváCzech
- gwanwr IndiaWelsh
- Indisk SlangehalsfuglDanish
- Indien-SchlangenhalsvogelGerman
- Indischer SchlangenhalsvogelGerman
- Orient-SchlangenhalsvogelGerman
- orienta anhingoEsperanto
- Orienta sagobirdoEsperanto
- Anhinga asiáticaSpanish
- Pato aguja asiáticoSpanish
- aasia madukaelEstonian
- مارگردن شرقیPersian
- käärmekaulaFinnish
- Anhinga rouxFrench
- Anhinga à ventre noirFrench
- Rúidire IndiachIrish
- સર્પગ્રીવાGujarati
- נחשון הודיHebrew
- נחשון אסייתיHebrew
- ázsiai kígyónyakúmadárHungarian
- feketehasú kígyónyakúmadárHungarian
- Pecuk-ular asiaIndonesian
- IndíaskutliIcelandic
- Aninga comuneItalian
- Aninga indianaItalian
- Aninga orientaleItalian
- アジアヘビウJapanese
- ಹಾವಕ್ಕಿKannada
- indinis žalčiagalvisLithuanian
- ചേരക്കോഴിMalayalam
- तिरंदाजMarathi
- Burung Pependang TimurMalay
- တင်ကျီးဥပန်းBurmese
- skjeggslangehalsNorwegian Bokmål
- सुइरोठुँडेNepali
- Indische slangehalsvogelDutch
- Indische slangenhalsvogelDutch
- orientslangehalsNorwegian
- ଖପର ଖାଇOdia
- wężówka indyjskaPolish
- ھندستانی ڈارٹرWestern Panjabi
- mergulhão-serpentePortuguese
- biguatinga-de-pescoço-vermelhoPortuguese
- mergulhão-serpente-asiáticoPortuguese
- mergulhão-serpente-orientalPortuguese
- Азиатская змеешейкаRussian
- Индийская змеешейкаRussian
- Чернобрюхая змеешейкаRussian
- අහිකාවාSinhala
- anhinga tmavobrucháSlovak
- afriški kačjevratnikSlovenian
- Azijska zmijovrataSerbian
- indisk ormhalsfågelSwedish
- பாம்புத்தாராTamil
- นกอ้ายงั่วThai
- yilanboyunTurkish
- Doğu YılanboyunuTurkish
- змієшийка чорночереваUkrainian
- Điên điển phương ĐôngVietnamese
- 黑腹蛇鵜Chinese
- 黑腹蛇鹈Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the oriental darter
Other species in the same genus Anhinga.
Anhinga
Anhinga anhinga
African darter
Anhinga rufa
Australasian darter
Anhinga novaehollandiae
CompareOriental darter vs AnhingaOriental darter vs African darterOriental darter vs Australasian darterOriental darter vs Anhinga beckeri
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the oriental darter?
An adult oriental darter weighs 1.48 kg – 1.54 kg and has a wingspan of 1.14 m – 1.28 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the oriental darter endangered?
The oriental darter is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the oriental darter live?
The oriental darter has a recorded lifespan of 16 years.
What kind of animal is the oriental darter?
The oriental darter (Anhinga melanogaster) belongs to the family Anhingidae 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). Oriental darter (Anhinga melanogaster). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/oriental-darter
“Oriental darter (Anhinga melanogaster).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/oriental-darter.
@misc{oriental_darter_2026,
title = {Oriental darter (Anhinga melanogaster)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/oriental-darter},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}