• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Wild Sea snakes in Fiji photos

Helenthereef

Helenthereef

New member
Joined
Jan 19, 2008
Messages
3,340
Reaction score
246
Points
0
Age
68
Location
Fiji Islands South Pacific
Hi, I live in the Fiji Islands, and we see wild sea snakes a lot. Thought some of you might be interested in some pics. I woudln't think these are kept in captivity, as they need a large area of coral reef to hunt on, but I'm new to these snake sites, so maybe I'm in for a surprise. :shrug01:

This is the White-lipped Banded Sea Krait, Laticauda colubrina - very venomous, but small mouthed, back-fanged and extremely docile. I handle them (with respect) whenever encountered.

Photo 1: Krait up a dead tree on a beach - they live and hunt in the sea, and come ashore mostly at night to digest a meal, shed and lay eggs. They'll also climb up a boat engine to bask in the sun, which really freaks diver out.... :rofl:
Check out the adapted paddle-shaped tail for swimming.

Quadrats_4_Sept_07_23_.JPG


Underwater they hunt by swimming slowly among the corals, sticking their heads into crevices. Studies have shown they eat only eels, which they bite, envenom and then swallow. As they hunt underwater they don't even have a strike relex, and that, plus no natural predators, probably accounts for the docility...
Seasnake_1.jpg

Seanake_2.jpg

Seasnake_underwater.jpg


Hope these are of some interest to someone!
Cheers,
Helen
 
I love the clean bands on these snakes. With their demeanor, I imagine it must be hard not to let your guard down when you do handle them. Nice pics!
 
Care in handling

Yeh, I'm very careful when handling them, but as long as they are supported from underneath and not pinched they hardly react at all - especially underwater, when they just cruise though your hands as though you were another piece of coral. They have ultra cool dispositions.

There's a resort in Fiji that has so many of them that when people have their islands weddings there, the owner used to walk in front of the bride, kicking them off the jetty back into the sea......
:thumbsup:
 
Those are beautiful snakes. You know a good deal about them. Feel free to post more photos, I really like the way these look.
 
Wow! Those are some amazing photos...Tim is right...we don't get to see "field shots" of those very often here! Keep 'em coming!
 
Some of the best pictures I have ever seen regarding these underwater sea snakes.
Thank you for sharing.
 
Awesome pictures. Must be amazing to get to interact with those snakes where they live.

One little correction though: sea snakes and sea kraits are not back-fanged. They are front-fanged elapids, relatives of the cobras, mambas, etc. At least for now...sea snake taxonomy may be being updated as we speak. It's a good thing they're reluctant to bite, as they're more than capable of causing a lethal envenomation!
 
Back fanged vs Front Fanged Kraits

Hi Chance,
That's interesting about the fang location - I have been telling people confidently for years that they are back fanged but now I come to think about it, I don't know where I got that information. :eek:
Our local Field Guide to herpetology doesn't mention fang type, merely says highly venomous but non-aggressive.
Thanks for the correction! :thumbsup:
Helen
 
Back
Top