Well Australia is keeping up its reputation for having some very unique (and scary) wildlife. While stumbling through news articles about amphibians and reptiles on National Geographic's website, I noticed an article with the title "Spiny, Venomous New Sea Snake Discovered." First thoughts: that sounds terrifying and very cool. I had never heard of a snake with spines. This snake has spines all over its body and is also thought to be venomous. As I read the article I learned that there are other species of sea snakes that have spines, but they are localized to their belly only. It is being placed in the genus Hydrophis. Here are some photos of the whole snake and a closeup of the spines.
The snake was found in the murky waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria, which is located in the northern part of Australia (see map).
Scientists were wondering why this snake had never been seen before and they came up with a pretty logical hypothesis: they live in murky waters with some of the most deadly animals known to man. Including but not limited to bull sharks, saltwater crocodiles and box jellyfish. Bull sharks will no hesitate to eat you, nor will the crocodiles. Getting stung by a box jellyfish is fatal. There is no possible way for scientists to go exploring in these waters without being killed, most likely within minutes.
After finishing the article I had the same question a lot of other people had: What is the role of the spines and why are they on the entire body (and not just the belly like other sea snakes)? Some comments offered up the idea that it would help them move through the water more easily. It will be hard to tell what they do without being able to observe them in their natural habitat. So herp friends, what do you think the spines are for?
Article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120302-new-sea-snake-species-animals-science-australia/
Pictures found on Google
Some other interesting articles I found: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/02/120217-poison-frogs-sugar-bile-science-licker/ (cool because we just saw frogs from Madagascar)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/01/120111-smallest-frogs-vertebrates-new-species-science-animals/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/02/pictures/120215-smallest-chameleons-new-species-madagascar-science/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/11/111109-shieldcroc-crocodiles-fossils-science-aegisuchus-witmeri/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120315-crocodiles-bite-force-erickson-science-plos-one-strongest/
1 comment:
It sounds like a good place to have various defenses against predation! It looks like a pretty typical sea snake otherwise (in terms of shape and coloration), so it's pretty bizarre that their scales are so distinctive. The scales remind me of the spiny scales of horned lizards!
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