Chordata · chordates

Atlantic puffin

Fratercula arctica

Alcidae · auks & puffinsIUCN: Vulnerable
Atlantic puffin
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized

A colorful auk that nests in burrows on North Atlantic islands, including in Maine.

Fun factIt can carry more than 10 small fish crosswise in its bill.

Waters
Northeast US, Northwest Atlantic, Northeast Atlantic, Arctic Ocean
Depth zone
Open-ocean surface waters, Coastal shallows & estuaries
Diet
Sand lance, herring & hake
Size
About 30 cm

Classification

Chordata › Reptilia › Charadriiformes › Alcidae

  1. Kingdom Animalia animals
    • Many-celled organisms that eat other living things for energy (heterotrophs)
    • Cells have no cell walls
    • Most can move at some stage of life
  2. Clade Bilateria bilateral animals
    • Body has a left and right side that mirror each other (bilateral symmetry)
    • Head end with concentrated nerves; three tissue layers
    • Includes about 99% of all living animal species
  3. Clade Deuterostomia deuterostomes
    • In the embryo, the first opening becomes the anus and the mouth forms second
    • Includes echinoderms and chordates
  4. Phylum Chordata chordates
    • At some stage of life: a stiffening rod along the back (notochord)
    • A hollow nerve cord along the back (dorsal)
    • Slits in the throat (pharyngeal slits) and a tail past the anus
  5. Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
    • A skull (cranium) protecting a brain
    • Backbone or similar support around the nerve cord
    • Includes fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals
  6. Infraphylum Gnathostomata jawed vertebrates
    • Jawed vertebrates: jaws formed from gill arches
    • Paired fins or limbs
    • Includes all fishes except hagfish and lampreys, plus all tetrapods
  7. Superclass Osteichthyes bony vertebrates
    • Bony vertebrates: skeleton made largely of bone
    • Most have a lung or swim bladder
    • Includes ray-finned and lobe-finned fishes and all tetrapods
  8. Clade Sarcopterygii lobe-finned vertebrates
    • Lobe-finned: fleshy fins with bones like those of limbs
    • Includes coelacanths, lungfishes, and all tetrapods
  9. Clade Tetrapoda four-limbed vertebrates
    • Four limbs with fingers and toes (or descended from animals that had them)
    • Breathe air with lungs
  10. Class Reptilia reptiles (birds included)
    • Scaly skin made of keratin
    • Lay shelled eggs on land or carry eggs inside the body (amniotic egg)
    • In modern classification this group includes birds
  11. Clade Archosauria crocodilians & birds
    • Includes crocodilians, birds, and extinct dinosaurs and pterosaurs
    • Birds and crocodilians share a four-chambered heart and a muscular gizzard
  12. Class Aves birds
    • Birds: feathers
    • Toothless beak
    • Lay hard-shelled eggs; warm-blooded
  13. Order Charadriiformes shorebirds, gulls & auks
    • Shorebirds, gulls, terns, and auks
    • Most live along coasts; many migrate long distances
  14. Family Alcidae auks & puffins
    • Auks: black-and-white seabirds that 'fly' underwater with their wings
    • The Northern Hemisphere's version of penguins
  15. Genus Fratercula
    • Species in the same genus are very close relatives and often look alike.
  16. Species Fratercula arctica Atlantic puffin

Closest relatives in the guide