Marine life  /  Turtles, sea snakes & crocodiles  /  Beaked sea snake
Species entry

Beaked sea snake

Hydrophis schistosus

A sea snake of shallow, turbid coastal water and river mouths across the Indo-West Pacific, responsible for most sea snake bites.

Size
To 150 cm
Active
Day and night
Range
Indo-West Pacific
SP-01
beaked sea snake · full body · habitat
4:3 · min 2400px

A slender snake to about 1.5 m, grey-green above with darker bands that fade with age, and a narrow head with a distinctly hooked snout.

It lives in shallow, turbid coastal water, estuaries and river mouths, which is not where most recreational diving is done. Most bites happen to fishermen clearing nets rather than to divers.

It is listed here because it is the sea snake most often involved when a bite does happen, and because the water it lives in is water that is sometimes dived. The rule is the same as for every sea snake: no handling, and no attempt to move one out of the way.

Where to find:

This entry carries no occurrence record. The animal is listed because it is a hazard a diver should be able to look up, and its range is given above, but none of the destinations this site holds data for is inside that range. A record will be added when there is one to add rather than an estimate to invent.

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