Fauna of Australia

AUSTRALASIAN GANNET
Australasian Gannets are expert fishers. Birds soar 10 m or more above the surface of the water, herding fish into dense shoals, then fold their wings back and dive into the water to catch their prey. The fish are grasped with the aid of small backward
pointing serrations along the edges of the bill. A bird only stays under the water for about ten seconds, but the fish is normally swallowed before the bird reaches the surf ace.
Australasian gannets mainly eat fish,
particularly pilchards, Australian anchovies,
barracouta, garfish, mackerel and horse mackerel.
Other recorded prey includes New Zealand piper, saury, flying fish, yellow eye mullet, a puffer, and also squid.
In A ustralia, the Australasian Gannet breeds in dense colonies on islands off Victoria and Tasmania. Breeding colonies are also found off the coast of New Zealand, mostly off the North Island. The young do not reach breeding maturity until about six or seven y ears old.
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