Hydrophis belcheri
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The Faint-banded Seasnake (Hydrophis belcheri, also known as the hooked-nose sea snake and belcher's sea snake) is a species of sea snake. It is the most venomous snake in the world, both on land or in water. It is supposed that Belcher's sea snake has at least 100 times powerful venom than any of the land snakes. Although it has a friendly temperament and would normally have to be subjected to severe treatment before biting. Usually those bitten are fishermen handling nets, although only a quarter of those bitten are envenomated since the snake rarely injects much of its venom.
Distribution: Indian Ocean (Philippines: Visayan area, Panay; New Guinea), Gulf of Thailand, Australia (North Territory?, Queensland?), Solomon Islands [McCoy 2000]. Especially around the Ashmore Reef in the Timor Sea off northwest Australia.
The scientific name commemorates the British explorer Sir Edward Belcher.
External links
References
- McCarthy,C.J. & Warrel,D.A. 1991 A collection of sea snakes from Thailand with new records of Hydrophis belcheri (Gray). Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Zool.) 57 (2): 161-166
- McCoy, M. 2000 Reptiles of the Solomon Islands. ZooGraphics, Kuranda (Australia), CD-ROM.
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