Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross

The Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos) is a large seabird belonging to the albatross family Diomedeidae. This small mollymawk was formerly grouped with the Indian yellow-nosed albatross under the name yellow-nosed albatross, and some authorities, including the Clements checklist and the South American Classification Committee, still treat them as the same species, pending a formal proposal. German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin first formally described this species in 1789 in his expanded edition of Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae, placing it in the genus Diomedea with the binomial Diomedea chlororhynchos.

Gmelin based his description on the “yellow-nosed albatross” that English ornithologist John Latham had described and illustrated in 1785 from a specimen collected off the Cape of Good Hope. Today, it is one of nine species in the genus Thalassarche, introduced by Ludwig Reichenbach in 1853. The genus name comes from Ancient Greek thalassa (“sea”) and arkhē (“power” or “command”). The specific name chlororhynchos combines khlōros (“yellow”) and rhunkhos (“bill”).

Description

The species is monotypic, with no recognized subspecies. This albatross averages 81 cm (32 in) in length. It is a typical black-and-white mollymawk with a grey head, a large eye patch, and a white nape and hindneck. Its bill is black with a yellow culminicorn and a pink tip.

The saddle, tail, and upperwing are blackish grey, while the underparts are mostly white. The underwing and primaries have a narrow black margin. Juveniles resemble adults but have a white head and a black bill. It differs from the Indian yellow-nosed albatross by its darker head.

Among other mollymawks, it stands out for its smaller size (especially narrow wings) and the thin black edging on the underwing. The grey-headed albatross has a similar grey head but more extensive, less defined black underwing markings.

Distribution

Salvin’s albatross also has a grey head but broader wings, a pale bill, and even narrower black underwing borders. Atlantic yellow-nosed albatrosses breed on mid-Atlantic islands, including Tristan da Cunha (Inaccessible Island, Middle Island, Nightingale Island, Stoltenhoff Island) and Gough Island. At sea, they range across the South Atlantic from South America to Africa, between 15°S and 45°S.