• The black shag dives without splashing and can hunt at depths up to 10 meters, chasing fish. Sometimes it dives deeper and stays underwater longer.

Black cormorants are distributed across several biogeographical regions, including the Afrotropical realm, Australasia, freshwater ecosystems, the Indomalayan realm, the Nearctic realm, the Palearctic realm, and marine ecosystems. The species inhabits Celtic broadleaf forests, broadleaf forests of Western Europe, Euxino-Colchian broadleaf forests, beech forests of the English lowlands, Balkan mixed forests, and Baltic mixed forests.