Pachyptila

Slender-billed Prion or Thin-billed Prion, Pachyptila belcheri

The Prions are small petrels in the genera Pachyptila and Halobaena. They form one of the four groups within the Procellariidae (also referred to as the prions), along with the gadfly petrels, shearwaters and fulmarine petrels.

 

Distribution / Range

They are found in the Southern Ocean and breed on a number of subantarctic islands.

 

Description

Prions grow 20–27 cm (7.9–11 in) long, and have blue-grey upper parts and white underparts.

Three species of prion have flattened bills with a fringe of lamellae (miniature ridges inside the bills of water-feeding birds or “teeth”) that act as strainers for zooplankton.

 

Antarctic Prion, Pachyptila desolata, also known as the TotororeDiet / Feeding

All prions are marine and feed on small crustacea such as copepods, ostracods, decapods, and krill, as well as some fish such as myctophids and nototheniids.

 

List of species

 

In addition, fossil remains of some hitherto undescribed prehistoric species have been found. The oldest is from the Late Miocene (Tortonian, some 7-12 million years ago) of the Bahía Inglesa Formation in Chile.

 

Copyright: Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia.orgAdditional information and photos added by Avianweb.

Broad-billed Prion (Pachyptila vittata)

Fairy Prion or Narrow-billed Prion, Pachyptila turtur


 

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