Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Yellow-billed cuckoo in stomach of tiger shark

January 1, 1962

On 20 May 1961 an immature female tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), 2.3 meters in length and weighing 52 kg, was caught in the Gulf of Mexico several miles offshore from Sarasota, Florida, by personnel of the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory. The contents of its stomach included a leg and some feathers of a land bird. The leg was sent to the Bird and Mammal Laboratories, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, Washington, D.C., where it was identified by Mrs. R. C. Laybourne as that of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus). In addition to this bird, the stomach contained a blue crab, several sea catfishes (Galeichthys felis), and part of a black nose shark (Carcharhinus acronatus).

Publication Year 1962
Title Yellow-billed cuckoo in stomach of tiger shark
DOI 10.2307/4082468
Authors G.B. Saunders, E. Clark
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title The Auk
Index ID 5220226
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Patuxent Wildlife Research Center