Sea Snake

Subfamily Hydrophiinae

Reptile

Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about sea snakes. Slither over that subscribe button to keep up with new content! When most people think of marine reptiles it’s usually images of sea turtles that come to mind. One may also think of saltwater crocodiles, or even the sneezing iguanas of the Galapagos, but the most diverse marine reptiles are the sea snakes who make up more than 85% of the known saltwater reptile species. There two specific types of snakes that live most of their life in the ocean and those are the sea kraits and true sea snakes, though it should be noted that other snake species exist that spend a lot of their time in water, just not necessarily oceanic environments. Since we’re talking about sea snakes, we’ll stick to the marine dwelling snakes in this episode.

Though they look similar and live in similar environments, true sea snakes and sea kraits are thought to have evolved separately. While both sea kraits and true sea snakes have paddle-like tails, true sea snakes also have a vertically flattened body while sea kraits are relatively round. Sea kraits also have belly scales whereas most true sea snakes don’t have belly scales at all. This is important to note because, while true sea snakes live their lives entirely in the water, sea kraits do spend some of their time on land, and it’s their belly scales that allow them to do this.

True sea snakes have left land life behind to the point that they don’t even have to worry about leaving the water to lay eggs - they just don’t even lay them. Egg-laying reptiles have to keep their eggs dry because the eggs will drown in water, but true sea snakes just skip the whole egg laying process altogether and instead give birth to live young. Sea kraits, on the other hand, return to land in order to mate, digest their food, and lay their eggs. Both true sea snakes and sea kraits can have upwards of 30 babies in a season, though the average is less than ten.

When it comes to hunting, sea snakes in general tend to be specialized. Some sea snakes exclusively eat eggs, others prefer meals in the form of eels, many others eat fish. All sea snakes need air to breath, but true sea snakes are able to hold their breath for hours at a time while sea kraits generally need to surface more frequently. What they eat and how they hunt really depends on the species as well as where they’re located.

Sea snakes are found in warm, tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It makes sense that they’re not found in the Arctic ocean because, as ectothermic animals, they need a warm environment - but why aren’t they swimming in the tropical waters of the Atlantic’s Caribbean sea? The simple answer is that they just can’t get there. This isn’t entirely a bad thing, though, because the animals of the Caribbean wouldn’t know what to do if they came face to face with a venomous sea snake.

All sea snakes have venom, some more potent than others. Thankfully, they tend to be even more docile than their terrestrial counterparts. While deaths have been reported from sea snake bites, for the most part divers are even able to swim with these snakes without experiencing any harm. Do you think you could dive with a snake that averages 5 feet in length?

For more facts on sea snakes, check out the links in the description. Thank you for watching, and be sure to give a thumbs up for more Animal Fact Files.