[3] The origin of the name is apparent when swimming: only the neck appears above water, so the bird looks like a snake ready to strike.

[4] Although not part of their traditional range, American anhingas have been found as far north as the states of Pennsylvania,[6] Wisconsin,[7] and New York.

[16] The female anhinga is similar to the male except for its pale gray-buff[17] or light brown[18] head, neck, and upper chest.

[4] This bird is often mistaken for the double-crested cormorant due to its similar size and shape, although the two species can be differentiated by their tails and bills.

[21] Anhingas swim by kicking their webbed feet to pursue their prey, fish or amphibians, underwater, which they spear by rapidly outstretching their bent neck.

Their dense bones, wetted plumage, and neutral buoyancy when in water allows them to fully submerge and hunt for underwater prey.

[25] Anhingas also lose body heat relatively fast, and their posture helps them absorb solar radiation from the sun to counteract this.

[citation needed] Anhingas feed on moderately sized wetland fishes,[11] amphibians,[26] aquatic invertebrates and insects.

[27] In Alabama, the anhinga's diet consists of fishes (such as mullet, sunfish, black bass, catfish, suckers, and chain pickerel), crayfish, crabs, shrimp, aquatic insects, tadpoles, water snakes and small terrapins.

[31] The number of individual anhingas has not been estimated, but they are considered to be of least concern because of the frequency of their occurrence in their 15,000,000 km2 (5,800,000 sq mi) global range.