A handsome black-and-white ringed marine elapid that returns to land to rest and digest its eel-only diet.
Description
The yellow-lipped sea krait is a sleek, bluish-grey snake about 1.4 m long, ringed in black from head to tail and bearing distinctive bright yellow lips and snout. The tail is flattened into a paddle for swimming, and large ventral scales aid movement on land.
Behavior
Sea kraits hunt eels in coral crevices at night, returning to rocky islands or beaches each day to digest, drink fresh water, and shed their skin. They are slow on land and tolerant of close approach, though their potent neurotoxic venom requires medical attention if they bite.
Range
Widely distributed across the Indo-Pacific from Sri Lanka and the Bay of Bengal east to Vanuatu and Fiji. Several closely related Laticauda species occupy similar reef habitats across the region and were historically harvested for skin.
Find more snakes by letter
Sea Krait starts with S and ends with T. Browse other snakes along the same letter.
Snakes that contain a letter from "Sea Krait":