Yellow-lipped Sea Krait

• It is genuinely amphibious: it hunts eels on the reef but comes ashore to digest, shed its skin and lay its eggs, something the true sea snakes cannot do because they have lost their belly scales.
• Its venom is several times more potent than a cobra's, but it is so docile and its mouth so small that fishermen in the Philippines and Fiji routinely handle it by hand.
• It hunts in partnership with groupers and goatfish: the snake goes into the crevices of the reef and the fish wait outside for the prey that flee, an association documented between very different species.
• It is genuinely amphibious: unlike the true sea snakes, which never leave the water, this one returns to land to digest, shed its skin, mate and lay its eggs.
• Its venom is among the most potent in existence, many times more toxic than a cobra's, but it is docile and very rarely bites; fishermen handle it with their bare hands.
• It hunts mainly eels and morays, poking its head into crevices in the reef. Males and females hunt different prey at different depths, which reduces competition between the sexes.
• The tail is flat and broad, paddle-shaped, and provides the propulsion; on land it moves clumsily but can climb over rocks.
• Its pattern of black rings on a pale background and its yellow snout make it unmistakable, and they are precisely the traits copied by the harlequin snake eel.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (reptile)

Habitat and environment

Coral reefs and rocky shores of the Indo-Pacific; rests and lays its eggs on land

Sexual maturity

3 years

Gestation / incubation

120 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

6 eggs

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (en): Yellow-lipped sea krait