Mergus
Sign in to saveMergus is the genus containing the typical mergansers ( ), fish-eating ducks in the subfamily Anatinae.
AI overview
Mergus is a group of fish-eating ducks that belong to the larger duck family. These ducks, called mergansers, are specially adapted to catch and eat fish, which sets them apart from most other duck species that eat plants or smaller aquatic animals.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Taxonomy · GBIF
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassAves
- OrderAnseriformes
- FamilyAnatidae
via GBIF · CC0
Article
6 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy
- Etymology
- Recent species
- Fossil species
- References
- Further reading
Mergus is the genus containing the typical mergansers ( ), fish-eating ducks in the subfamily Anatinae.
The common merganser or goosander (Mergus merganser) and red-breasted merganser (M. serrator) have broad ranges in the northern hemisphere. The Brazilian merganser (M. octosetaceus) is a South American duck, and one of the six most threatened waterfowl in the world, with possibly fewer than 250 birds in the wild. The scaly-sided merganser or "Chinese merganser" (M. squamatus) is also an endangered species; it lives in temperate eastern Asia, breeding in the northeast and wintering further south.