July 26, 2010 : Sea Snakes

Sea Snakes 

Sea snakes are venomous elapid snakes that inhabit marine environments for most or all of their lives. Though they evolved from terrestrial ancestors, most are extensively adapted to a fully aquatic life and are unable to even move on land, except for the genus Laticauda, which retain ancestral characteristics which allow limited land movement. They are found in warm coastal waters from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. All have paddle-like tails and many have laterally compressed bodies that give them an eel-like appearance. However, unlike fish, they do not have gills and must come to the surface regularly to breathe. Nevertheless, they are among the most completely aquatic of all air-breathing vertebrates. Among this group are species with some of the most potent venoms of all snakes. Some have gentle dispositions and bite only when provoked, but others are much more aggressive. Currently, 17 genera are described as sea snakes, comprising 62 species.

Most sea snakes are completely aquatic and have adapted to their environment in many ways, the most characteristic of which is a paddle-like tail that has increased their swimming ability. To a varying degree, the bodies of many species are laterally compressed, especially in the pelagic species. This has often caused the ventral scales to become reduced in size, even difficult to distinguish from the adjoining scales. Their lack of ventral scales means that they have become virtually helpless on land, but as they live out their entire life cycle at sea, they have no need to leave the water. 

The only genus that has retained the enlarged ventral scales is the sea kraits, Laticauda, with only five species. These snakes are considered to be more primitive, as they still spend much of their time on land, where their ventral scales afford them the necessary grip. Laticauda are also the only sea snakes with internasal scales, i.e., their nostrils are not located dorsally. 

Like their cousins in the Elapidae family, the majority of sea snakes are highly venomous; however, when bites occur, it is rare for much venom to be injected, so that envenomation symptoms usually seem non-existent or trivial. For example, Pelamis platurus has a venom more potent than any other terrestrial snake species in Costa Rica, but despite its abundance in the waters off its western coast, few human fatalities have been reported. Nevertheless, all sea snakes should be handled with great caution.