Editing Marbled duck (section)

==Description and diet==
[[File:Marmaronetta angustirostris portrait.jpg|thumb|left|Close-up of head]]
The marbled duck is approximately {{convert|39|–|42|cm|in|abbr=on}} long. Adults are a pale sandy-brown colour, diffusely blotched off-white, with a dark eye-patch and shaggy head. The female averages smaller than the male, but otherwise the sexes are alike. Juveniles are similar but with more off-white blotches. In flight, the wings look pale without a marked pattern, and no [[Speculum feathers|speculum]] on the secondaries.<ref name=BWP/>

These birds feed mainly in shallow water by dabbling or up-ending.<ref name=BWP/> Adults feed mostly on seeds (for example, from ''[[Scirpus]]'' and ''[[Ruppia]]''), but also take significant quantities of invertebrates (especially aquatic insect larvae and pupae, tiny crustaceans, and—highly unusual for a duck—[[ant]]s) and green plants (for example, ''[[Potamogeton]]''). Their [[gizzard]] allows them to break down seeds and the [[Pecten (biology)|lamellae]] in their beak allow them to [[filter feed]] on [[zooplankton]]ic organisms. Young marbled ducks feed mostly on invertebrates. Although they may take tiny seeds, they lack the large gizzard necessary to break down the larger seeds commonly consumed by adults.<ref>{{cite journal | author1=Fuentes, C. | author2=M.I. Sánchez | author3=N. Selva | author4=A.J. Green | year=2004 | title=The diet of the Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris in southern Alicante, eastern Spain | journal=Revue d'Écologie (La Terre et la Vie) | volume=59 | issue=3 | pages=475–490 | doi=10.3406/revec.2004.1218 | url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03530020/file/bitstream_113998.pdf }}</ref>