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title: "Do Shy as well as White-capped Albatrosses occur in the south-west Atlantic?"
---

# Do Shy as well as White-capped Albatrosses occur in the south-west Atlantic?

Sebastián Jiménez ([Proyecto Albatros y Petreles – Uruguay](http://cicmar.org/en/projects-developed-by-cicmar/albatrosses-and-petrels-project), Centro de Investigación y Conservación Marina, Canelones, Uruguay) and colleagues have published in the journal [*Emu Austral Ornithology*](http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/96.htm) on shy-type albatrosses *Thalassarche* sp. in the south-west Atlantic.

 The paper’s abstract follows:

 “Albatrosses are killed or injured through by-catch in longline fisheries and by collisions with warp cables in trawl fisheries.  Detection of areas where albatrosses interact with fisheries is important for their conservation.  Shy (*Thalassarche cauta*) and White-capped (*T. steadi*) Albatrosses are difficult to study from vessels as they are phenotypically similar.  However, the two species can be identified by molecular analysis.  The six-fold difference in the size of the total populations of these two species could mask by-catch of the less-abundant Shy Albatross, particularly when available sample sizes of by-catch are small.  Here we document the species of a sample of 29 shy-type albatrosses killed as fisheries by-catch to confirm the observation that White-capped Albatrosses are the dominant shy-type albatross in the south-western Atlantic Ocean and exposed to the pelagic longline fishery there.  Using a test based on a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) previously reported in the mtDNA of both species, 28 specimens were identified as White-capped Albatross.  The SNP test and phylogenetic analyses suggested that the remaining bird was a Shy Albatross.  Further analyses with other independent markers could confirm the identification of the latter.  This result indicates the possibility that Shy Albatrosses reach the south-western Atlantic Ocean.  There is no doubt that White-capped Albatrosses, which are a regular visitor to Uruguayan waters, is the predominant shy-type albatross in the south-western Atlantic.  However, a small proportion of shy-type albatrosses in this region could be Shy Albatross but further analysis is needed to confirm this.”

 ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/S/Shy/Shy_Albatross_on_Albatross_Island_by_Drew_Lee.jpg) 

 Shy Albatross, photograph by Drew Lee

 **Reference:**

 Sebastián Jiménez, Alejandro Marquez, Martin Abreu, Rodrigo Forselledo, Alfredo Pereira & Andrés Domingo 2015.  Molecular analysis suggests the occurrence of Shy Albatross in the south-western Atlantic Ocean and its by-catch in longline fishing.  [*Emu*http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MU13105](http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=MU13105).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 January 2015*