# Steller's eider (*Polysticta stelleri*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/stellers-eider  
Data as of: 2026-11-14

Steller's eider (Polysticta stelleri) is a bird in the waterfowl group, belonging to the family Anatidae and the order Anseriformes. It is a small, migratory bird with a marine habitat, and adults typically weigh about 807 g. The IUCN Red List lists Steller's eider as Vulnerable (VU) in its global assessment, a threatened category.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 773 g – 842 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Lifespan | 14.3 years |
| Diet | Aquatic predator |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 23 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | marine |
| Egg incubation | 26 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 7 |
| Age at maturity | 2 years – 2.24 years |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Reproduction | Eggs |
| Lifestyle | Aquatic |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Vulnerable (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Introduced range

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists it as introduced in 1 country. Introduced: Germany. Source: https://griis.org/ (CC BY 4.0).

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Anseriformes
- family: Anatidae
- genus: Polysticta
- species: *Polysticta stelleri* (Pallas, 1769)

Synonyms: *Anas dispar*, *Anas occidua*, *Anas stelleri*, *Eniconetta stelleri*, *Fuligula stelleri*, *Polystica stelleri*, *Somateria stelleri*, *Stellaria dispar*

## Common questions

### How much does a steller's eider weigh?

Adults typically weigh about 807 g. Values reported by our sources run from 773 g to 842 g.

### Is the steller's eider endangered?

The IUCN Red List category is Vulnerable (VU) in the global assessment, which is a threatened category.

### How many eggs does a steller's eider lay?

A clutch has 7 eggs, with 1 clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 26 days.

### What kind of animal is the steller's eider?

It is a bird, a waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Its habitat is marine and it is migratory.

### Who named Polysticta stelleri?

The scientific name Polysticta stelleri carries the authority (Pallas, 1769).

### Is the steller's eider an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the steller's eider as introduced in 1 country: Germany, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

## 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).
- [Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS)](https://griis.org/), CC BY 4.0, 2026-11-13. Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.
- [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: Steller's eider (Polysticta stelleri). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/stellers-eider