WART SNAKE

(genus Acrochordus), either of two species of fish-eating aquatic snakes of the Far East, constituting the family Acrochordidae, which is sometimes considered a subfamily of the Colubridae. Wart snakes have thick bodies, loose skins, tiny pyramidal scales that extend across the belly, and valves that close off the mouth and nostrils under water. The Java wart snake, or elephant's-trunk snake (A. javanicus), is a brown snake about 1.2 m (4 feet) long and is found in rivers and coastal waters from China to northern Australia. It provides a sturdy leather commercially known as "water snake." Observations of captive wart snakes have shown that the rough filelike skin serves to grip fish, which are then killed by constriction. The other species of wart snake, A. granulatus, is somewhat smaller and has a finlike keel of skin on its belly. It ranges from southern Asia to the Solomon Islands.