SEA SNAKE

any of more than 50 species of venomous marine snakes of the family Hydrophiidae. In adaptation to marine life, sea snakes have oarlike tails and flattened bodies. Their nostrils have valvelike closings and are usually on top of the snout. Several sea snakes have bodies much thicker than their heads and necks affording them greater stability when striking at prey. Some species (subfamily Laticaudinae) have enlarged belly scales like those of terrestrial snakes; the others (Hydrophiinae) have small belly scales and are helpless on land. Most are about 1 to 1.2 metres (3 to 4 feet) long; the largest, such as Laticauda semifasciata, an edible delicacy in Japan, may be twice as long. The majority of sea snakes are found along the coasts and in the estuaries of Australia and Asia, but one, the yellow-bellied, or pelagic, sea snake (Pelamis platurus), ranges throughout the Pacific to Madagascar and the New World. This species is about 1 metre long and is dark brown or black with a bright yellow belly. Sea snakes eat fish and sometimes bask on the surface in large groups. A few of the Laticaudinae lay eggs on land, but all others bear their young alive at sea. Sea snakes are generally slow to strike, but some, such as the annulated and beaked sea snakes (Hydrophis cyanocinctus and Enhydrina schistosa), possess potentially lethal venom.