Alca torda, Razorbill

Alca torda   Linnaeus, 1758

Razorbill
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Alca torda

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Aves | Charadriiformes | Alcidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Others; depth range 0 - 120 m (Ref. 62202).  Polar; 82°N - 27°N, 80°W - 43°E (Ref. 124582)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Northwest Atlantic, Eastern Atlantic and the Arctic: Polar to temperate.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm Max length : 45.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 8812); max. published weight: 719.00 g (Ref. 356)

Short description Morphology

Culmen: 3.45 cm; tarsus: 2.963 cm; wing: 21.13 cm.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Total Length: 40 to 45 cm; Wingspan: 63 to 66 cm (Ref. 8812). Found along coasts; <15 km (Ref. 356). In the North Sea off the east coast of Scotland and northern England, this species primarily forage inshore and feed on the sandeel, Ammodytes marinus (Ref. 95711). Known to be pursuit divers (Ref. 356). They surface-feed by scooping prey from the water and also able to exploit the water column by diving; carrying prey in their bills back to their colony. In nesting colonies, breeding pairs share incubation and chick-rearing duties. Adults feed their chicks with regurgitated food (Ref. 95711).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Breeds from northern Europe east to Russia, Iceland, Greenland, and coastal North America from Baffin Island south to the Maritime Provinces and Maine. Winters from Greenland south even to South Carolina, and in Europe to the Mediterranean. Eggs are laid from early June to early August (Ref. 87872).

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Camphuysen, C.J.K. 1998. (Ref. 7319)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 17 August 2021

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Human uses


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Tools

E-book | Field guide

More information

Trophic Ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growth
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Fecundity
Spawning
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Physiology
Oxygen consumption
Human Related
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
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Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Pictures
References
References

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 2.3 - 12.7, mean 8.1 (based on 1259 cells).
Resilience (Ref. 69278): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=20.71-50.32).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 71543): Low to moderate vulnerability (35 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

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