Gannet

Gannet
Morus bassanus
[Linnaeus, 1758]

Northern gannets ("our" gannets) belong to the Sulidae family of seabirds - the boobies and gannets.

The gannet is another seabird which we Brits have taken to eating, rather like the shearwaters...

In fact, young gannets are still eaten as "guga" even today in the Western Isles.

The word "gannet" itself is derived from "ganot" (or "gan") - old English for goose and the traditional name for the Northern gannet is still Solan goose ("channel goose").

Gannets were (and indeed still are around Ness) caught very easily - fisherman regarded them as incredibly simple birds - moronic in fact - and this gives rise to their generic name of Morus.

Our (Northern) gannets have a specific name of bassanus - which is a nod to the Bass Rock - on which they've bred in huge numbers for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. Two thirds of the world's entire population of gannets breed around our British shores - the Bass rock in the Firth of Forth being one of our most famous colonies.

So.... our Northern gannet has a scientific name which quite literally means:

"Moron of the Bass rock".