Enhydrina schistosa

Taxobox | name = Beaked seasnake

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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Squamata
subordo = Serpentes
familia = Hydrophiidae
genus = "Enhydrina"
species = "E. schistosa"
binomial = "Enhydrina schistosa"
binomial_authority = (Daudin, 1803)

Beaked seasnake ("Enhydrina schistosa", also known as the hook-nosed sea snake, the common sea snake, and the Valakadyn sea snake ) is a species of sea snake.

It is found in the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf (off Oman), south of the Seychelles and Madagascar, the seas off South Asia (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh), Southeast Asia (Myanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand, Vietnam), and Australia (Northern Territory and Queensland) and New Guinea.

Description

Rostral more deep than broad, in contact with four shields; frontal more long than broad, shorter than the parietals; nasals in contact with the two anterior labials; sometimes partially divided; one pre- and one or two postoculars; temporals l—3; seven or eight upper labials, fourth or third and fourth entering the eye, the last sometimes divided; anterior chin-shields rather indistinct, separated. Scales with a tubercle or keel, in 50—70 rows; ventrals 230—314, slightly enlarged.Uniformly dark grey above; sides and lower parts whitish. Young specimens olive or grey with black transverse bands, broadest in the middle. Length of head and body 1110 mm.; tail 190 mm. [Rooij, Nelly de 1917 Reptiles of the Indo-Australian archipelago. E J Brill]

The name "valakadyn" is from the Malayalam and Tamil word "Vala kadiyan" meaning net biter. [Smith, M. A. 1941. Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Batrachia.]

Habitat and behaviour

These snakes are generally found in the coast and coastal islands of India. They are amongst the most common of the 20 kinds of sea snakes found in that region.

They are active both during the day and at night. They are able to dive up to 100 m and stay underwater for a maximum of five hours before resurfacing. Seasnakes are equipped with glands to eliminate excess salt. They are venomous, but not aggressive and are thus handled by the fishermen without fear, though they are thrown back into the sea upon sight. The venom of this snake is rated four to eight times as toxic as cobra venom [Relative Toxicity of Australian Snakes] . About 1.5 milligrams of its venom is estimated to be lethal. [ [http://www.venomsupplies.com/Relative-Toxicity.php Relative toxicity of snake venoms] ]

The principal food is fish. The snake is also eaten as meat by Hong Kong and Singapore fishermen and locals alike.Fact|date=November 2007

References

Other sources

* Voris, Harold K. 1985 Population size estimates for a marine snake (Enhydrina schistosa ) in Malaysia Copeia 1985 (4): 955-961
*

External links

*
* [http://www.reptileallsorts.com/bites-venom.htm The Reptile House]