''Cepphus'' is a genus of

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envir ...

s in the auk family also referred to as true

guillemot Guillemot is the common name for several species of seabird in the Alcidae or auk family (part of the order Charadriiformes). In British use, the term comprises two genera: '' Uria'' and '' Cepphus''. In North America the ''Uria'' species a ...

s or, in North America, simply as guillemots. The genus name ''Cepphus'' is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

''kepphos'',. a pale waterbird mentioned by Greek authors including

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...

. The English word "guillemot" is from French ''guillemot'' probably derived from ''Guillaume'', "William". "Murre" is of uncertain origins, but may imitate the call of the common guillemot. These are medium-sized birds with mainly black plumage in the breeding season, thin dark bills and red legs and feet. Two species have white wing patches, the third has white facial “spectacles”. They are much paler in winter plumage, mottled above and white below. The breeding habitat is rocky shores and islands on the coasts of the northern

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

s. They usually lay their eggs in rocky sites near water. These birds may overwinter in their breeding areas, moving to open waters if necessary, but usually not migrating very far south. They dive for food from the surface, swimming underwater. They mainly eat

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

and

crustacea Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

ns, also some molluscs,

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s and plant material. The species are: There are also fossil forms * ''Cepphus olsoni'' Howard, 1982 (San Luis Rey River Late Miocene - Early Pliocene of W USA) * ''Cepphus storeri'' Harrison, 1977 (Red Crag of Suffolk Late Miocene - England * ''Cepphus'' cf. ''columba'' (Lawrence Canyon Early Pliocene of W USA) * ''Cepphus'' cf. ''grylle'' (San Diego Late Pliocene, W USA) The latter two resemble the extant species, but because of the considerable distance in time or space from their current occurrence may represent distinct species.

References

{{Authority control Bird genera Guillemots Messinian first appearances Extant Miocene first appearances