Surf duck

Weight

907 g – 1.1 kg

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

9.5 years

Diet

Aquatic predator

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

wetland

Young per litter or clutch

6.65

Age at maturity

2 years

Litters or clutches a year

1

Lifestyle

Aquatic

Migration

Migratory

Conservation status

Not recorded

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classAves
4. orderAnseriformes
5. familyAnatidae
6. genusMelanitta
7. SpeciesMelanitta perspicillata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Anas perspicillata, Fuligula perspicillata, Oedemia perspicillata, Oedemia perspicillata trowbridgii, Oidemia perspicillata, Oidemia trowbridgii, Pelionetta perspicillata, Pelionetta trowbridgii

Catalogue of Life

VU, Vulnerable

Velvet scoter

Melanitta fusca

Anatidae

LC, Least Concern

Common scoter

Melanitta nigra

Anatidae

B

Black scoter

Melanitta americana

AnatidaeNo free photo yet

W

White-winged scoter

Melanitta deglandi

AnatidaeNo free photo yet

H

Hook-billed scoter

Melanitta stejnegeri

AnatidaeNo free photo yet

M

Melanitta fusca x deglandi

AnatidaeNo free photo yet

CompareSurf duck vs Velvet scoterSurf duck vs Common scoterSurf duck vs Black scoterSurf duck vs White-winged scoter

• 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
• AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
  Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5
• 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).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• 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).

@misc{surf_duck_2026,
  title = {Surf duck (Melanitta perspicillata)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/surf-duck},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}