Anhinga
Scientific name: Anhinga anhinga (Linnaeus, 1766)
Overview
The anhinga, sometimes called darter, American darter, snakebird, or water turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The word anhinga comes from a'ñinga in the Brazilian Tupi language and means "devil bird" or "snake bird". The origin of the name is apparent when swimming: only the neck appears above water, so the bird looks like a snake ready to strike. They do not have external nares (nostrils) and breathe solely through their epiglottis, via small opercula at the corners of the beak.
From the Wikipedia article “Anhinga”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Least concern on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.3.
Where it lives
The Catalogue of Life records it in: Caribbean; Middle America; North America; South America.
Common names
Names in other languages (9)
- Arabic
- زقة أميركية
- Chinese
- 美洲蛇鹈
- French
- Anhinga d'Amérique
- German
- Amerika-Schlangenhalsvogel, Amerikanischer Schlangenhalsvogel
- Japanese
- アメリカヘビウ
- Persian
- جرد آمریکایی
- Portuguese
- anhinga, biguatinga
- Russian
- американская змеешейка
- Spanish
- Anhinga americana, Aninga
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names and range.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q469940, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “Anhinga”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — Tim from Ithaca, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
- Range map — Nrg800, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026