Hydrophis schistosus, Beaked sea snake
Advertisement

You can sponsor this page

Hydrophis schistosus   Daudin, 1803

Beaked sea snake
Upload your photos 
 All pictures | Google image |
Image of Hydrophis schistosus (Beaked sea snake)
Hydrophis schistosus

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Not assigned | Squamata | Elapidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Reef-associated; depth range 3 - 22 m (Ref. 78387).  Tropical; 31°N - 58°S (Ref. 356)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Indo-West Pacific.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 74.5, range 47 - 101.5 cm Max length : 140 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 801); common length : 110 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 801)

Short description Morphology

Young has gray to black annuli, while juveniles has 45-55 transverse bars that may extend down the flanks with the lower body whitish and without pattern. Adults are uniform gray above, whitish below. Dark bars wider or as wide than paler interspaces.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Average length is 90 cm. The venom of this snake is said to be responsible for more serious and fatal bites than all other sea snakes combined and is considered to have the most toxic venom. Based on studies, the myotoxic phospholipase A from the venom causes myoglobinuria in mice (Ref. 88062). Usually occurs in clear shallow reef waters (Ref. 2357), and may travel about ten miles up tidal rivers (Ref. 88062). Also prefers estuarine conditions in Australia (Ref. 2357). Ovoviviparous (Ref. 801), with 4 to 9 young ones in a brood (Ref. 88062). Feeds on fish (Refs. 801, 88062).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Ovoviviparous (Ref. 801). It bears 4 to 9 young ones in a brood (Ref. 88062).

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Redfield, J.A., J.C. Holmes and R.D. Holmes 1978 Sea snakes of the Eastern Gulf of Carpentaria. Aust. J. Mar. Freshwat. Res. 29(3):325-334. (Ref. 78387)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 15 February 2009

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Venomous (Ref. 88062)

Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest
| FishSource |

Tools

E-book | Field guide

More information

Trophic Ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growth
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Fecundity
Spawning
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Physiology
Oxygen consumption
Human Related
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Pictures
References
References

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 24.8 - 29.3, mean 28.5 (based on 3251 cells).
Resilience (Ref. 69278): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=0.6-0.75).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 71543): Moderate to high vulnerability (46 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

Comments & Corrections
Back to Search
Random Species
Back to Top