mainly on the "Mallemucke" that had been described and illustrated in 1675 by the German naturalist Friderich Martens in his account of his voyage to Spitzbergen. The northern fulmar is now placed in the genus Fulmarus that was introduced in 1826 by the English naturalist James Stephens. The genus name comes from the Old Norse Fúlmár meaning "foul-mew" or "foul-gull" because of the birds' habit of ejecting a foul-smelling oil. The specific epithet is Latin for "icy". Three subspecies are recognised: F. g. glacialis (Linnaeus, 1761) – the nominate race, which breeds in the high Arctic regions of the North Atlantic F. g. auduboni Bonaparte, 1857 – breeds in the low Arctic and boreal regions of the North Atlantic F. g. rodgersii Cassin, 1862 – breeds on the coast of eastern Siberia and the Alaskan Peninsula Description The northern fulmar has a wingspan of and is in length. Body mass can range from . This species is gray and white with a pale yellow, thick bill and bluish legs. However, there are both a light morph and dark, or "blue," morph; in the Pacific Ocean there is an intermediate morph as well. Only the dark morph has more than dark edges on the underneath but they all have pale inner primaries on the top of the wings. The Pacific morph has a darker tail than the Atlantic morph. Like other petrels, their walking ability is limited, but they are strong fliers, with a stiff wing action quite unlike the gulls. They look bull-necked compared to gulls, and have short stubby bills. They are long-lived, with a lifespan of 31 years not uncommon. Behaviour Feeding This fulmar will feed on shrimp, fish, squid, plankton, jellyfish, and carrion, as well as refuse. When eating fish, they will dive up to several feet deep to retrieve their prey. Breeding The northern fulmar starts breeding at between six and twelve years old. It is monogamous, and forms long-term pair bonds. It returns to the same nest site year after year. The breeding season starts in May; however, the female has glands that store sperm to allow weeks to pass between copulation and the laying of the egg. During the breeding season adult Fulmars usually remain within 500 km of their breeding colony instead of traveling up to thousands of kilometers while searching for food. Their nest is a scrape on a grassy ledge or