Snakes Ahoy!
The Indo- Pacific’s
Amphibious Sea Kraits.
A doyen of Australian herpetology, Hal Cogger has combined a wealth of field
research with an extensive catalogue of publications, including seven issues of the
famous Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. He has long held a particular interest
in investigating sea snakes – especially in idyllic tropical locations....
I
nvolving field work mostly in the tropics,
research on the ecology of sea snakes can be
one of the most satisfying jobs for any
herpetologist. Diving in bath-temperature waters
and living either on islands of exquisite beauty or on
small ships anchored overnight in serene lagoons.
It's a hard life!
However these pleasurable experiences can vary
considerably according to the kinds of marine snake
being studied. The largest group is that of the true
sea snakes which, apart from a few estuarine
species that hunt in mangrove tidal areas, spend all
their lives at sea or in large river systems and are
viviparous, dropping fully-formed live young at sea.
Many are also highly venomous, and will sometimes
strike randomly and wildly when captured either by
diving for individual snakes or in hand nets or
commercial trawls. About 60 species of viviparous
sea snakes are currently recognised, and the group
extends, with one exception, from the Middle East
to southern China and Japan's Ryukyu Archipelago,
then south through the Indo-Australian Archipelago
to Fiji and the Solomon Islands. The exception is
the Yellow-bellied Sea Snake, Hydrophis (Pelamis)
platurus, which ranges from the east coast of
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