Blue-lipped sea krait


The blue-lipped sea krait, blue-banded sea krait, or common sea krait is a species of venomous sea snake in the subfamily Laticaudinae, family Elapidae. It is found in the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy

The blue-lipped sea krait was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name Coluber laticaudatus. There are two subspecies, Laticauda laticaudata laticaudata and Laticauda laticaudata affinis.

Description

Ventral scales of this snake are large, one-third to more than one-half the width of the body; the nostrils are lateral; nasal scales are separated by internasals; 19 longitudinal rows of imbricate scales are found at midbody; no azygous prefrontal shield is present; rostral scales are undivided; ventrals number 225-243; subcaudals number 38–47 in males, females have 30–35. The upper lip is dark brown. Total length varies with sex: males are, females are ; tail lengths are similar:.

Distribution and habitat

This species is found in the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans: Bay of Bengal, coasts of Malay Peninsula to Indonesia, Timor-Leste, New Guinea, the Philippines, off the coasts of Fujian and Taiwan, Japan, Polynesia, Melanesia, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, and Australia.

Special features

This snake is known to warm up in wedge-tailed shearwater burrows.