Trivia question for Apr-22-2011

Carter is always on the look out for cool snake facts.  Lets see what he came up with:  The venom of these guys is more powerful than that of all other snakes, including the cobras.

Though they evolved from terrestrial ancestors, most are extensively adapted to a fully aquatic life and are unable to even move on land, except for one species, which retain ancestral characteristics which allow limited land movement. They are found in warm coastal waters from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. All have paddle-like tails and many have laterally compressed bodies that give them an eel-like appearance. Unlike fish, they do not have gills and must surface regularly to breathe. They are among the most completely aquatic of all air-breathing vertebrates.

So here are Carter’s questions:  Tell us where the female typically lays her eggs, and also tell us how deep they are known to dive.  Finally, tell us how many people, especially fisherman, die each year from the bite of one of these guys?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to Oksana from China for sending us the nice email with the correct answer.  The snake we featured is the Sea Snake.  Except for a single genus, all sea snakes are ovoviviparous; the young are born alive in the water where they live their entire life cycle. This means the eggs stay inside the mother until the baby hatches. In some species, the young are quite large: up to half as long as the mother. The one exception is the genus Laticauda, which is oviparous; its five species all lay their eggs on land.

Many sea snake species are able to dive to depths of over 160-feet.  Each year, hundreds of people die each year from bites from sea snakes.  Most are understandably fisherman who accidentally come in contact with the snakes as they pull in their fishing nets.  Here is more on these beautiful looking snakes: Sea Snakes

Thanks for playing along 😉