by Geoffrey
Sea snakes are different from many other snakes in that their eggs hatch internally (inside the female's body) and they reproduce live young. Also sea snakes come in different colours and patterns but do not have the large abdominal scales of land (terrestial) snakes.
Like other land snakes, sea snakes have a head, eyes (but no eyelids), windpipe, two lungs, heart, liver, stomach, intestines, two kidneys and a tail. The snake's tongue helps it to smell. All sea snakes have small
Sea snakes can be found mostly in tropical (warm) waters from the Persian Gulf to the South Pacific Ocean. Many are found in the Indian Ocean, in the Bay of Bengal and in Australia's tropical waters.
Some species live in swamps, some along coastlines, some in coral reefs and others are found way out to sea. Their diet consists of small fish, fish eggs and eels. Sea snakes are not aggressive reptiles but are searching predators. They obtain their food by travelling widely through the water using vision and scent to locate their prey. Mostly they can follow their prey into crevices, engulf it or chase it around till they catch it. If not, they wait on the surface till their prey comes out of weeds or crevices then they pounce.
The size of the clutches produced by egg layers or the size of litters by live bearers is not large because sea snakes are relatively small snakes. Sea snakes tend to produce just a few (2-4) large babies.
Sea snakes are all poisonous but not aggressive and show us how a species which is mostly a land dweller can exist very well without leaving the water.
Sea snakes are poisonous water snakes. There are over fifty kinds of sea snakes and they belong to the family "Hydrophiidae". The largest genus in this family is "Hydrophis". Most sea snakes never leave the water but are reptiles not fish, so they must come to the surface to breathe.
heads and slender neck and bodies and most are about 1.5 metres long. Their poisonous fang is in the front of the mouth like in the cobra (elapids). This means it can't fold its fangs back like a rattle snake can. So the fangs of a sea snake are short. To help them swim well, sea snakes have flattened paddle-like tails. Their slender bodies also help them reach deep into narrow crevices to seize their prey. Their scales are smaller than land snakes and their skins are often bright colours and in various patterns - bright bands.
The yellow-bellied sea snake is also very common in waters off southern California (USA) and in waters off South America.
True sea snakes (Hydrophiidae) produce eggs which hatch internally and so the young are born live. Baby snakes don't need a mother to care for them. Other snakes that live in water like sea kraits (Family - laucaududae) do lay eggs.
Female snakes do not reproduce often. Sometimes in the Arafura filesnakes from freshwater tropical area, reproduction only occurs every 8 to 10 years. Snakes seem to delay reproduction until they have enough stored energy to produce enough eggs or babies to completely fill up the space available in their body cavities. It can take a female several years to get a store of energy.
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