Taxon name
Puffinus persicus
Hume, 1873
Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Scientific name
Puffinus persicus
Hume, 1873
Assessed taxon level
Species
Higher level taxonomic groupings
Vertebrates
Birds
Species authority
Hume, 1873
Taxonomic notes and synonyms listed
Puffinus lherminieri (incorporating baroli), P. bannermani, P. persicus, P. subalaris and P. bailloni (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as P. lherminieri and baroli was subsumed under P. assimilis, following Brooke (2004), before which P. bannermani and P. persicus where split following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).
Location and scope
Specific locality or subnational name or regional name
United Arab Emirates (the)
Scope (of the Assessment)
National
Countries included within the scope of the assessment
United Arab Emirates (the)
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Not_assigned
Conservation Status
Assessed as
Least Concern
Criteria system used
IUCN
(see Assessment details)
Assessment rationale/justification
The non-breeding population size is extremely large. The population trend is not known, but it is not believed to be decreasing sufficiently rapidly to approach the threshold for listing as threatened under the population trend criterion. For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern at the national level.
Assessment details
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Criteria system used
IUCN
Reference for methods given
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
Further information
Endemism (according to assessment)
Endemic to region
Not assigned
Taxon distribution as listed in assessment
This species is fairly common to common off the east coast of the UAE, but is only rarely observed along the west coast and in the Arabian Gulf. It occurs in UAE waters throughout the year. The largest groups were recorded off the coast of Khor Kalba (Sharjah Emirate), with 3,000 individuals counted in April 2011 and over 4,200 individuals in May 2013 (Pedersen et al. 2017).
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
This species is marine; it occurs in offshore waters, but also closer to the shore near breeding colonies (Aspinall and Porter 2011, del Hoyo et al. 2019). Its diet consists of fish, squid and crustaceans, which are caught by plunge-diving, pursuits and surface-seizing (del Hoyo et al. 2019). It breeds on cliffs and slopes on barely vegetated, rocky offshore islands. There is not much known about its breeding biology; it presumably breeds during summer. While adult individuals are thought to be largely sedentary, immature birds disperse into the Gulf of Oman and occasionally into the Arabian Gulf (del Hoyo et al. 2019).
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
The main threat to this species likely occur outside of UAE waters - globally, population size has been historically limited by humans taking chicks for food, a practice which continues on a local basis today at breeding sites. Little is known about the level of impact, but;caution should be exerted since the cause for the overall global decline in this species is unknown (Brooke 2004).
History
The species was first recorded in the early 1990s (907 birds off Ras Dibba). The species is considered to also have been Least Concern in 1996.
Publication
Burfield, I.J., Westrip, J., Sheldon, R.D., Hermes, C., Wheatley, H., Smith, D., Harding, K.A. Allen, D.J. and Alshamsi, O. 2021. UAE National Red List of Birds. Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
