Spine-bellied sea snake facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hardwicke's spine-bellied seasnake |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Hydrophis
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| Species: |
hardwickii
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The spine-bellied sea snake (Hydrophis hardwickii) is a type of venomous sea snake. It belongs to the family called Elapidae. This snake is also known as Hardwicke's sea snake. It lives in warm ocean waters.
What's in a Name?
The scientific name for this snake is hardwickii. This name honors an English naturalist named Thomas Hardwicke. He was a person who studied nature.
How to Identify a Spine-Bellied Sea Snake
This sea snake has several unique features. It has a body that is short and strong. Its neck is at least half as thick as its middle body.
Here are some other things to look for:
- Its head is quite large.
- The scales on its body are square or hexagonal. They fit closely together.
- The outer rows of scales are larger than the others.
- Males usually have 23 to 31 rows of scales around their neck. Females have 27 to 35 rows.
- Around the middle of their body, males have 25 to 27 scale rows. Females have 33 to 41.
- The scales on its belly are small. They are usually clear at the front of the body.
- Males have 114 to 186 belly scales. Females have 141 to 230.
- The shields on its head are usually complete.
- Its nostrils are on top of its head. The nasal scales touch each other.
- A scale called the prefrontal usually touches the second upper lip scale.
- It has 7 or 8 upper lip scales. Three or four of these touch the eye.
- It has one scale in front of the eye and one or two behind it.
- The snake is often greenish or yellow-olive on top. It is whitish underneath.
- It can have 35 to 50 olive or dark gray bars on its back. These bars get narrower towards the sides.
- Sometimes, these bars go all the way around its body.
- Some snakes might have a dark stripe or a wide band on their belly.
- Older snakes often do not have any patterns. They are just a plain olive or dark gray color.
- The head can be pale olive or black. It might have yellow marks on its snout.
- These snakes can grow up to 860 millimeters (about 2 feet 4 inches) long. Their tail can be about 85 millimeters (about 3.3 inches) long.
Where Do They Live?
The spine-bellied sea snake lives in warm ocean waters around the world.
You can find Hydrophis hardwickii in these areas:
- The Persian Gulf, near the United Arab Emirates and Iran.
- The Indian Ocean, including Bangladesh, Burma, Pakistan (maybe), Sri Lanka, and India.
- The South China Sea, stretching north to the coasts of Fujian and Shandong in China.
- The Taiwan Strait.
- The Indoaustralian Archipelago, a group of islands.
- The northern coast of Australia, in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia.
- The Philippines, including islands like Panay.
- The Pacific Ocean, near Thailand, Indonesia, China, Japan, and Papua New Guinea.
Specifically, the hardwickii type is found from Burma and the southeast coast of India. It also lives in the Straits of Malacca. Its range extends east to Australia and north to China, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan.
