The Brandt's cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) is named after the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt (1802_1879) of the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, who described the species from specimens collected on expeditions to the Pacific during the early 19th century. A resident of wave-washed rocks and offshore Pacific waters, breeding birds are black with a purple sheen on the head and a blue skin patch under the chin which is called the gular pouch.
