Lesser Fish Eagle

Open encyclopedia reference

The lesser fish eagle (Icthyophaga humilis) is a species of Icthyophaga found in the Indian subcontinent, primarily in the foothills of the Himalayas, and south-east Asia. There are records from Gujarat, Central India and in more recent times from the Kaveri river valley in southern India, although the south Indian records are now thought to come from an isolated population, disjunct from the species' normal range.

Some taxonomic authorities place this species in the genus Icthyophaga. Others place it in the genus Haliaeetus.

Lesser fish eagles are fish-eating birds that have feet adapted to aid in gripping slippery fish. They have strongly curved talons, and spicules along the underside of the birds' toes help to grip fish as they pull them from the water.

There are two subspecies: Icthyophaga humilis humilis, which is native to the Malaysian Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and Sulawesi; and Icthyophaga humilis plumbeus, which is native to Kashmir through southeast India, Nepal, and Burma towards Indochina.

Wikipedia contributors, Lesser fish eagle; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:09:22.615846+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Icthyophaga humilis (S. Müller & Schlegel, 1841)

Name authority

(S. Müller & Schlegel, 1841)

Common name

Lesser Fish Eagle

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Accipitriformes

Family

Accipitridae

Genus

Icthyophaga

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderAccipitriformes
10. familyAccipitridae Vigors, 1824
11. genusIcthyophaga R. P. Lesson, 1843
12. speciesIcthyophaga humilis (S. Müller & Schlegel, 1841)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Icthyophaga. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 170 records assigned to Accipitridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=824072 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:6MTX3. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.