 the european shag or common shag (phalacrocorax aristotelis) is a species of cormorant. it breeds around the rocky coasts of western and southern europe, southwest asia and north africa, mainly wintering in its breeding range except for northernmost birds. in britain this seabird is usually referred to as simply the shag.annotated list of the seabirds of the world - boobies, cormorants, frigatebirds and tropicbirds www.oceanwanderers.com. retrieved 2007-10-08.   ==description== this is a medium-large black bird,  long and with a  wingspan. it has a longish tail and yellow throat-patch. adults have a small crest in the breeding season. it is distinguished from the great cormorant by its smaller size, lighter build, thinner bill, and, in breeding adults, by the crest and metallic green-tinged sheen on the feathers. among those differences are that a shag has a lighter, narrower beak; and the juvenile shag has darker underparts. the european shag's tail has 12 feathers, the great cormorant's 14 feathers. the green sheen on the feathers results in the alternative name green cormorant sometimes being given to the european shag. ==habitat== thumb|shag in flight it feeds in the sea, and, unlike the great cormorant, is rare inland. it will winter along any coast that is well-supplied with fish. the european shag is one of the deepest divers among the cormorant family. using depth gauges, european shags have been shown to dive to at least . european shags are preponderantly benthic feeders, i.e. they find their prey on the sea bottom. they will eat a wide range of fish but their commonest prey is the sand eel. shags will travel many kilometres from their roosting sites in order to feed. in uk coastal waters, dive times are typically around 20 to 45 seconds, with a recovery time of around 15 seconds between dives; this is consistent with aerobic diving
Birds_of_Africa Birds_of_Asia Birds_of_Europe Birds_of_Gibraltar Birds_of_Kazakhstan Birds_of_Turkey Birds_of_Western_Sahara IUCN_Red_List_least_concern_species Phalacrocorax