Description
The Elegant Sea Snake is a dangerous venomous sea snake. Young snakes are greyish with a number of 35-55 blackish cross bands, that become blotches as it matures. The sides have dark spots. The head is grey or olive. The tail is paddle shaped vertically.
Size
up to 2m long
Habitat
deep water between reefs, shallow muddy bottomed habitat. Sometimes seen washed up on beach
Food
eels and long thin fish, shrimp
Breeding
give birth to 12-23 live young. The young are about 30cm at birth.
Range
northern Australian waters from south west Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland down as far as northern New South Wales.
Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
| Class: | Reptilia | | Order: | Squamata (Serpentes) | | Family: | Hydrophiidae | | Genus: | Hydrophis | | Species: | elegans | | Common Name: | Elegant Sea Snake |
Relatives in same Genus
Black-headed sea snake (H. melanocephalus)
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