Prion (bird)
From Free net encyclopedia
- For the infectious agent bearing the same name, see prion.
{{Taxobox
| color = pink
| name = Prions
| image = Broad billed prion.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = Broad-billed Prion
| regnum = Animalia
| phylum = Chordata
| classis = Aves
| ordo = Procellariiformes
| familia = Procellariidae
| genus = Pachyptila
| genus_authority = Illiger, 1811
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
Fairy Prion, P. turtur
Slender-billed Prion, P. belcheri
Fulmar Prion, P. crassirostris
Broad-billed Prion, P. vittata
Antarctic Prion, P. desolata
Salvin's Prion, P. salvin
}}
The prions are small petrels that comprise the genus Pachyptila. With the Blue Petrel they form one of the four groups within the Procellariidae (also referred to as the prions), alongside the gadfly petrels, shearwaters and fulmarine petrels. They are found in Southern Ocean and breed on a number of subantartic islands. Prions grow 20-27 cm long, and have blue-grey plumage with white underparts. Three species of prion have flattened bill with a fringe of lamellae that act as strainers. All prions are marine and feed on small crustacea such as copepods, ostracods, decapods, and euphausiid krill, as well as some fish such as myctophids and nototheniids.
References
- Cherel, Y., Bocher, P., De Broyer, C., Hobson, K.A., (2002) "Food and feeding ecology of the sympatric thin-billed Pachyptila belcheri and Antarctic P. desolata prions at Iles Kerguelen, Southern Indian Ocean" Marine Ecology Progress Series 228: 263–281 [1]