Web hosting Custom Email SiteBuilder

Behaviour: An inoffensive and docile snake which will not attack unless provoked with malicious handling or harassment. May occasionally enter rivers and sometimes venture over 100km out into the sea. However it is not considered to be pelagic like the Yellow Bellied Sea Snake (Pelamis platurus) and prefers the coral reefs and rocky shores close to the beach. It is a powerful swimmer but movement on land is heavily laboured.

Food: Feeds entirely on fish. However its preference towards dead fish often gets it helplessly hooked in fishing lines in areas were it is common.

Breeding: This snake is viviparous and females tend to outnumber males. The brood size may vary from 4 to 9. The young are born during a long season which lasts from February to May in southern India and may vary according to its range.

Growth: Upon birth the neonates measure around 260mm. These snakes are capable of reproducing once 90cm long and therefore should mature in around four years. On average the length of an adult may be within the range of 90-120cm and males tend to be larger than females. The largest recorded specimens may reach lengths of 140cm.

Venom: The venom of this species has been extensively studied for nearly two centuries. The earliest studies were conducted by Dr.Patric Russell and Australian scientists successfully developed a functional antivenin for this species which was first tested during the early 1960's. This snake produces neurotoxic venom which causes paralysis and ultimately death by suppressing the respiratory system within a few hours. The antivenin developed for this species along with that of the Australian Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatus) are used as a standard for nearly all hydrophid snakebites.

Identification: The most unique feature of this snake is its protruding downward pointing Rostral shield which gives it a somewhat parrot like appearance when viewed in profile. It also has a Prefrontal shield system shaped like the wings of a butterfly, an elongated pair of first Infralabials and does not have a Mental shield.

Lepidosis:

• Rostral: Protrudes downwards.
• Frontal: Small
• Supraoculars: Broad and nearly two thirds the area of the Frontal.
• Parietals: The largest shields on the head of the snake and very prominent.
• Prefrontals: The entire system is shaped like the wings of a butterfly.
• Nasals: Triangular and the nostril is situated towards the posterior of the shield.
• Loreals: Absent
• Preoculars: Entire
• Postoculars: Entire
• Temporals: Entire and prominent, often touching the last four pairs of Supralabials.
• Supralabials: Eight pairs of which the last two are minuscule and may be absent. The third and fourth pairs touch the eye while the fifth pair may be divided.
• Mental: Absent
• Infralabials: Five pairs of which the first pair is slender and elongated and replaces the Mental shield.

• Sublinguals: May contain one amorphous pair.
• Costals: Take the form of an elongated overlapping hexagon with a small keel in the centre.
• Ventrals: Small and often divided, falling into 230 to 361 rows.

Dentition:

• Maxillary: 3 to 5
• Palatine: 5 to 6
• Pterygoid: 15 to 16
• Mandibular: 16

Distribution: Persian Gulf, Madagascar, Seychelles, Bay of Bengal, SE Asia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

A rare snake off Sri Lankan waters despite the fact that it is extremely common along the coast of southern India. This snake is occasionally encountered along the northern shores of Sri Lanka.

References:

WALL, Frank: Snakes of Ceylon (1921)

Acknowledgements:

Photo from Old Man and the Snake (http://www.alles.or.jp/~butchi/flame2.html) (Photographer Unknown)