Puffinus Puffinus Puffinus is a genus of seabirds in the order Procellariiformes. It comprises about 20 small to medium-sized shearwaters. Two other shearwater genera are named: "Calonectris", which comprises three or four large shearwaters, and "Ardenna" with another seven species (formerly often included within "Puffinus"). "Puffinus" is a New Latin loanword based on the English "puffin". The original Latin term for shearwaters was usually the catchall name for sea-birds, "mergus". "Puffin" and its variants, such as poffin, pophyn and puffing, referred to the cured carcass of the fat nestling of the shearwater, a former delicacy. The original usage dates from at
Europa Island 100 pairs, probably of the subspecies "Puffinus lherminieri bailloni" previously considered endemic to the Mascarene Islands), dimorphic egrets and Caspian terns. The island is also home to an endemic subspecies of white-tailed tropicbird ("Phaethon lepturus europae"). There are three species of landbirds present, one of which is an endemic subspecies of the Malagasy white-eye ("Zosterops maderaspatanus voeltzkowi"). Additionally, the island is also home to its own species of hissing cockroach. Climate is affected by the Agulhas Current with water temperatures usually above 30 °C, southeast trade winds during the (austral) winter and occasional cyclones. While the island has probably been