A group of bird watchers while on a routine water bird count at the Perumathura coast in Thiruvananthapuram was in for a surprise when they found something unusual on January 8. Slithering in the shallow waters, close to the shore, was a slender sea snake.
The team, members of the Thiruvananthapuram-based forum of bird watchers and nature lovers, Warblers and Waders, was carrying out a survey as part of the yearly water-bird census. “We wasted no time in photographing the snake, which was later identified as the Hydrophis gracilis, more commonly known as the graceful small-headed sea snake,” says naturalist and conservationist C Susanth Kumar, who is also the water bird census co-ordinator.
Reported for the first time from Kerala
The graceful small-headed sea snake is being reported for the first time from Kerala, says Jafer Palot, scientist, Zoological Survey of India. There are no records of sightings of this snake from the coasts of Kerala. Six species of sea snakes have so far been reported from Kerala, the graceful small-headed sea snake is the seventh species to be recorded. Even though it is one of the 26 species of marine snakes known from the Indian coastline, it is relatively uncommon.
Graceful small-headed sea snake
Named after Latin “gracilis,” meaning small, the snake is characterised by its small head and a comparatively large body (especially the centre). The snake is usually found in the coastal waters of the Indian ocean, the Bay of Bengal, the Persian Gulf, the South China sea, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia.
“The small-headed sea snake is usually found in deeper waters and this particular snake would have been washed ashore during high tide. These snakes cannot usually move about on the shore,” says Sandeep Das, herpetologist and research scholar at the Kerala Forest and Research Institute. Though considered highly venomous, there are few instances of sea-snake bites reported, he adds.
The team of bird watchers that found the snake includes Dhanush S L,Santhosh Kumar, Joby Kattela, Arya Meher, Vivek V, Vinod Thomas, Moncy Thomas, Jose K S, Gokul R S, Adarsh T and Susanth. They released the snake into deeper waters.
