sea snake question

[waso 0]

This sea snake was obviously taking a nap in a depth of about 10 m at the northern coast of Bali, just 3 weeks ago.

It didn't look like the typical Laticauda colubrina of the Indo-Pacific, seemed to be a bit longer and the head was bigger.

 

Does anybody has an idea?

 

Cheers

 

Wahrmut

[davephdv 0]

Cool pix, have no idea about the ID

[JimSwims 31]

Hi Wahrmut,

 

I'm wondering if this could this be an Enhydrina schistosa, Beaked Sea Snake. AKA worlds most venomous!

 

Did you take any other angles of it?

 

Cheers,

Jim.

[MikeVeitch 0]

I have seen a few places on the net saying that its the beaked sea snake, however, its not. Its a relatively benign species, quite common in Secret Bay, Bali, however... I can't remember the name! haha

[waso 0]

Thanks for your replies!

 

@Jim: Unfortunately I don't have significantly different angles, e.g. where the tail can be seen... I could kick my own a... :-(

But the snake seemed quite long for a sea snake - definitely more than one meter.

 

@Mike: The photo was not taken in Secret Bay - more in the north east of Bali.

 

Cheers

 

Wahrmut

[pointy 4]

Hello Wahrmut,

 

I've never even seen a sea snake, but I stumbled onto a site that describes an uncommon species with spiny scales. I thought it looked a lot like your snake. What do you think? Did it have spiny scales?

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120302-new-sea-snake-species-animals-science-australia/

 

John McCracken

[waso 0]

Hello John,

 

interesting anyway...

 

because I have no access to the original RAW file at the moment, I can't say if the skin was spiny.

Apart from that, the one that I saw looks quite similar to the one you linked, although the stripes have been more white instead of yellow.

I'll look up the RAW for the spines anyway.

 

Thanks for your input!

 

Cheers

 

Wahrmut

[waso 0]

Ok, I was checking all the RAW files, investigating the snakes skin.

Although it doesn't look quite 'hydrodynamic', I don't see 'real' spines.

But have a look yourself (100% crop):

 

 

I can see some tiny 'kind-of-spines' on the right side, but nothing which is comparable with Hydrophis donaldi.

 

Cheers

 

P.S.: Of some reason, the forum software reduces the image and makes it quite blury... :-(

Edited March 20, 2014 by waso

[waso 0]

External hoster:

 

[jmauricio 24]

Hard to tell on the brown but on the white bands to the right, it definitely looks like spines

[JimSwims 31]

I clearly see spines on right side white band. Also this crop is from front end of the snake and in the images from article linked by John it

appears the spines are reduced or almost absent on that end of the snake. Perhaps you could ping an email with a link to this thread to

Kanishka Ukuwela. Be very interesting to hear his thoughts.

 

Cheers,

Jim.

[pointy 4]

I clearly see spines on right side white band. Also this crop is from front end of the snake and in the images from article linked by John it

appears the spines are reduced or almost absent on that end of the snake. Perhaps you could ping an email with a link to this thread to

Kanishka Ukuwela. Be very interesting to hear his thoughts.

 

Cheers,

Jim.

 

Here is Kinishka response after he was sent a link to this discussion:

 

"Hi John,

Thanks for the message. The snake on the photograph is the Common File snake (Acrochordus granulatus) (check this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrochordus_granulatus). This is not a true sea snake. It belongs to the family Acrochordidae. They are mainly brackish water species, but they are well known to enter the sea as well.

cheers,

Kanishka"

[MikeVeitch 0]

That's the one! Non venomous, very different for a seasnake. Glad to hear you found one in another area than Secret Bay, I have only seen them there.

[JimSwims 31]

Fascinating. I do believe I've seen footage of Indigenous Australians hunting for these in mangroves.

 

Cheers,

Jim.

[waso 0]

Thanks for the quote, pointy!

It's always good to get a reliable ID from an expert.

And thanks to everybody, helping to answer my question.

 

Cheers

 

Wahrmut