Editing Anhinga (section)

== Diet ==
{{Multiple image
| image1            = Anhinga imported from iNaturalist photo 177629323 on 3 December 2024.png
| image2            = Anhinga imported from iNaturalist photo 177629345 on 3 December 2024.png
| footer            = Eating a [[cichlid]]. In Florida.
| total_width       = 300
}}
Anhingas feed on moderately sized wetland fishes,<ref name="Cornell" /> amphibians,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/images/Anhinga%20anhinga%20-%20Anhinga%20or%20Snake-bird.pdf |title=The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago - Anhinga anhinga (Anhinga or Snake-bird)}}</ref> aquatic invertebrates and insects.<ref name="animaldiversity.org">{{cite web|last=Kearns |first=Laura |url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Anhinga_anhinga/ |title=ADW: Anhinga anhinga: INFORMATION |publisher=Animaldiversity.org |date= |access-date=2022-08-08}}</ref> In [[Alabama]], the anhinga's diet consists of fishes (such as [[mullet (fish)|mullet]], [[Centrarchidae|sunfish]], [[black bass]], [[catfish]], [[Catostomidae|suckers]], and [[chain pickerel]]), [[crayfish]], [[crab]]s, [[shrimp]], [[aquatic insects]], [[tadpole]]s, [[Nerodia|water snakes]] and small [[terrapins]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Alabama Birds|last=Imhof|first=Thomas, A|publisher=University of Alabama Press|year=1962|isbn=978-0-8173-1701-0}}</ref> In Florida, [[Centrarchidae|sunfishes and bass]], [[Cyprinodontiformes|killifishes]], and [[Poeciliidae|live-bearing fishes]] are primarily eaten by the anhingas.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|url= https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/om/om006.pdf#page=127 |title=Adaptations for locomotion and feeding in the Anhinga and the Double-crested cormorant|last=Owre|first=Oscar, T|journal=Ornithological Monographs |publisher=American Ornithologists Union|year=1967 |issue=6 |doi= 10.2307/40166666 |isbn=978-0-9436-1006-1|pages=126–127|jstor=40166666 }}</ref> Other fish eaten include [[pupfish]] and [[Percidae|percids]].<ref name="animaldiversity.org"/>

Anhingas stalk fish underwater, mainly where there is some vegetation. Once they locate their prey, they partly open their bill and stab the fish swiftly. For larger fish, they use both their jaws; for small fish, they may use only the lower jaw.<ref name="Cornell" /> If the fish is too large to forage, the anhinga stabs it repeatedly and then lets it go.<ref>Wellenstein, Charlie (1986). "[https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/FFN_14-3p74-75.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,-190,266 Prey Handling by Anhingas]". ''Florida Field Naturalist.'' '''14:''' 74-75- via [https://sora.unm.edu/node/134737 SORA]</ref> Anhingas bring their capture to the surface of the water, toss it backward and engulf it head-first.<ref name=":2" />