Darter

The darters, anhingas, or snakebirds is a family of aquatic birds which resemble pelicans. They mainly occur in the tropics.

Darter Temporal range: Early Miocene – Recent 18–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Male African darter Anhinga rufa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Suliformes
Family:	Anhingidae Reichenbach, 1849[1]
Genus:	Anhinga Brisson, 1760
Type species
Plotus anhinga Linnaeus, 1766
Species
Anhinga anhinga Anhinga melanogaster Anhinga rufa Anhinga novaehollandiae (but see text)
World distribution of the family Anhingidae
Synonyms
Family-level: Anhinginae Ridgway, 1887 Plotidae Plottidae Plotinae Rafinesque, 1815 Plottinae Ptynginae[verification needed] Poche, 1904 Genus-level: Plottus Scopoli, 1777 (unjustified emendation) Plotus Linnaeus 1766 Ptinx[verification needed] Bonaparte, 1828 Ptynx Möhring 1752 (pre-Linnean)

There are four living species. Three of the species are common, the fourth is rarer, and listed as near-threatened by the IUCN.

The term snakebird is used for any of these species: They have a long thin neck. When they swim, only the head and neck are visible. This looks like a snake. Darter is a term that refers to they way these birds catch fish: They impale the fish with their beak. The American darter is sometimes called anhinga. Sometimes it is called water turkey, even though it is unrelated to the turkey.