The Japanese cormorant (''Phalacrocorax capillatus''), also known as Temminck's cormorant, is a

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...

native to the east

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sib ...

. It lives from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

, north through

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, to the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...

. The Japanese cormorant has a black body with a white throat and cheeks and a partially yellow bill. It is one of the species of cormorant that has been domesticated by fishermen in a

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

known in Japan as ''ukai'' (鵜飼) (literally meaning 'raising a cormorant'). It is called ''umiu'' (ウミウ ''sea cormorant'') in Japanese. The

Nagara River The has its source in the city of Gujō, Gifu Prefecture, and its mouth in the city of Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Along with the Kiso River and Ibi River, the Nagara River is one of the Kiso Three Rivers of the Nōbi Plain. Previously, t ...

's well-known fishing masters work with this particular species to catch '' ayu''.Cormorant Fishing "UKAI"
Version of May, 2001. Retrieved 2008-JAN-30. Phalacrocorax capillatus MWNH 0529

Footnotes

References

External links

Japanese cormorant
at Avibase {{Taxonbar, from=Q727214 Japanese cormorant Birds of China Birds of Japan Birds of Korea Birds of Manchuria Japanese cormorant