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
Flesh-footed shearwater Flesh-footed shearwater The flesh-footed shearwater ("Ardenna carneipes"; formerly "Puffinus carneipes") is a medium-sized shearwater. Its plumage is black. It has pale pinkish feet, and a pale bill with a distinct black tip. Together with the equally light-billed pink-footed shearwater, it forms the "Hemipuffinus" group, a superspecies which may or may not have an Atlantic relative in the great shearwater. These are large shearwaters which are among those that have been separated in the genus "Ardenna". It breeds in colonies, and has two main breeding areas: one in the southwest Pacific Ocean includes Lord Howe Island (16,900 pairs ), South Australia