merimetso

meri (“sea”) +‎ metso (“wood grouse, capercaillie”)

merimetso

1. Any bird of the family Phalacrocoracidae (the cormorant family). The individual species in this family are either cormorants or shags by their English common name.
2. A great cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo (type species of the cormorant family)

The great cormorant is the only species of cormorant that is native to Finland, which explains why the family and species have exactly same common name. Other species of cormorant have a specifier in their name, e.g. kaislamerimetso (“long-tailed cormorant, Microcarbo africanus (syn. Phalacrocorax africanus)”) or partamerimetso (“spotted shag, Phalacrocorax punctatus”). The only exception to this naming pattern is karimetso (“European shag, Phalacrocorax aristotelis”), an occasional visitor in Finland.

• karimetso