The Golfe du Morbihan (Gulf of Morbihan) is a bay on the eastern coast of Grande Terre, the largest of the

Kerguelen islands The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the sub-Antarctic constituting one of the two exposed parts of the Kerguelen Plateau, a large ...

. It forms a deep and broad notch in the central section of the island.

Description

It is a relatively protected maritime space constituting a natural shelter for the ships and on the banks of which were established the stations of and Port-aux-Français. The gulf of Morbihan is strewn with many islands and islets. It was thus so called by Raymond Rallier du Baty at the time of its forwardings of the beginning of the 20th century in the honour of the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany (Kerguelen was Breton, and many of the features in the islands have Breton names). "Morbihan" derives directly from the

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

name which is ''Ar Morbihan'', meaning 'the little sea' (Compare the Welsh ''y môr bychan''), as opposed to the Ocean outside. The name of Gulf of Morbihan appears on a chart published in 1922. Previously the place was known as Royal Sound, given by

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

. This remains in the name of Passe Royale, the entry of the gulf. The name Golfe du Morbihan was confirmed by the French toponymy commission for the Southern and Antarctic Lands, thus respecting the hierarchy of the topographic terms, since the Golfe du Morbihan includes several smaller bays such as the Baie des Aurores Australes, where Port-aux-Français is located. However the name Baie du Morbihan appears on various charts and is often used indifferently even in official writings.

Important Bird Area

The islands of the gulf have been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as a 280 km²

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) because of their value as breeding sites for seabirds and for

Eaton's pintail Eaton's pintail (''Anas eatoni'') is a dabbling duck of the genus ''Anas''. It is also known as the southern pintail. The species is restricted to the island groups of Kerguelen and Crozet in the southern Indian Ocean. It resembles a small fema ...

s. Of the 20 islands and numerous islets included in the IBA, the largest is the 20 km² Île Australia. Some of the islands are free of introduced species, but others are infested by

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' ( pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

and

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

s. Some islands still have their original subantarctic vegetation, including Kerguelen cabbages, lyallia cushions and Moseley's buttercups. They are of particular interest because of their large populations of blue and

grey petrel The grey petrel (''Procellaria cinerea''), also called the brown petrel, pediunker or grey shearwater is a species of seabird in the Procellariidae, or petrel family. It is pelagic and occurs in the open seas of the Southern Hemisphere, mainly b ...

s. Other birds breeding in the IBA include Kerguelen, great-winged, white-chinned and white-headed petrels,

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

and slender-billed prions,

Wilson's Wilson may refer to: People *Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender *Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Rodr ...

and grey-backed storm petrels,

South Georgia South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

and

common diving petrel The common diving petrel (''Pelecanoides urinatrix''), also known as the smaller diving petrel or simply the diving petrel, is a diving petrel, one of four very similar auk-like small petrels of the southern oceans. It is native to South Atlant ...

s, Kerguelen shags, black-faced sheathbills, brown skuas and Kerguelen terns.BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Islands of the Golfe du Morbihan. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2012-01-11.

References

{{Coord, 49, 26, S, 70, 8, E, type:waterbody_region:FR, display=title Landforms of the Kerguelen Islands Important Bird Areas of Kerguelen Gulfs of France