True cormorant

Phalacrocorax is a genus of fish-eating birds in the Cormorant family Phalacrocoracidae.

Taxonomy
The genus Phalacrocorax was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) as the type species. Phalacrocorax is the Latin word for a "Cormorant".

The genus contains 22 species including one species that became extinct in the 19th century.
 * Red-legged Cormorant or Red-footed Shag, Phalacrocorax gaimardi
 * Flightless Cormorant, Phalacrocorax harrisi
 * Bank Cormorant or Wahlberg's Cormorant,  Phalacrocorax neglectus
 * Spotted Shag Phalacrocorax punctatus
 * Pitt Shag or Featherstone's Shag  Phalacrocorax featherstoni
 * †Pallas's Cormorant or Spectacled Cormorant, Phalacrocorax perspicillatus
 * Brandt's Cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus
 * Pelagic Cormorant or Baird's Cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus
 * Red-faced Cormorant, Phalacrocorax urile
 * Neotropic Cormorant or Olivaceous Cormorant, Phalacrocorax brasilianus (or Phalacrocorax olivaceus)
 * Double-crested Cormorant or White-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus
 * European Shag or Common Shag, Phalacrocorax aristotelis
 * Black-faced Cormorant, Phalacrocorax fuscescens
 * Indian Cormorant, Phalacrocorax fuscicollis
 * Little Black Cormorant, Phalacrocorax sulcirostris
 * Pied Cormorant or Yellow-faced Cormorant, Phalacrocorax varius
 * Great Cormorant or Black Shag, Phalacrocorax carbo
 * White-breasted Cormorant, Phalacrocorax lucidus
 * Japanese Cormorant or Temminck's Cormorant, Phalacrocorax capillatus
 * Cape Cormorant, Phalacrocorax capensis
 * Socotra Cormorant, Phalacrocorax nigrogularis
 * Rock Shag, Phalacrocorax magellanicus

A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the genus Phalacrocorax was non-monophyletic and that a group of five species currently placed in this genus were more closely related to members of Leucocarbo. This group contained the rock Shag, the double-crested Cormorant, the neotropic Cormorant, the flightless Cormorant and the European Shag.