Sea snake
Genus Taxon authority Species Subsp . * Common name Geographic range
Acalyptophis Boulenger , 1895 1 0 spiny-headed sea snake or horned sea snake Gulf of Thailand , South China Sea , the Strait of Taiwan , and the coasts of Guangdong , Indonesia , the Philippines , New Guinea , New Caledonia , Australia ( Northern Territory , Queensland , Western Australia )
Aipysurus Lacépède , 1804 9 1 olive sea snakes Timor Sea , South China Sea , Gulf of Thailand , and coasts of Australia ( Northern Territory , Queensland , West Australia ) , New Caledonia , Loyalty Islands , southern New Guinea , Indonesia , western Malaysia and Vietnam
Antaioserpens Wells & Wellington , 1985 2 0 burrowing snakes Australia
Astrotia Fischer , 1855 1 0 Stokes ' sea snake coastal areas from west India and Sri Lanka through Gulf of Thailand to South China Sea , west Malaysia , Indonesia , east to New Guinea , north and east coasts of Australia , the Philippines
Emydocephalus Krefft , 1869 3 0 turtlehead sea snakes the coasts of Timor ( Indonesian Sea ) , New Caledonia , Australia ( Northern Territory , Queensland , West Australia ) , and in the Southeast Asian sea along the coasts of China , Taiwan , Japan , and the Ryukyu Islands
Enhydrina Gray , 1849 2 0 beaked sea snakes in the Persian Gulf ( Oman , United Arab Emirates , etc . ) , south to the Seychelles and Madagascar , Southeast Asia ( Pakistan , India , Bangladesh , Myanmar , Thailand , Vietnam ) , Australia ( Northern Territory , Queensland ) , New Guinea and Papua New Guinea
Ephalophis M.A . Smith , 1931 1 0 Grey 's mudsnake northwestern Australia
Hydrelaps Boulenger , 1896 1 0 Port Darwin mudsnake northern Australia , southern New Guinea
Hydrophis Latreille in Sonnini & Latreille , 1801 36 3 sea snakes Indo-Australian and Southeast Asian waters
Kerilia Gray , 1849 1 0 Jerdon 's sea snake Southeast Asian waters
Kolpophis M.A . Smith , 1926 1 0 bighead sea snake Indian Ocean
Lapemis Gray , 1835 2 0 spine-bellied sea snake , Shaw 's sea snake Persian Gulf to Indian Ocean , South China Sea , Indo-Australian Archipelago and the western Pacific
Laticauda Laurenti , 1768 8 0 sea kraits Southeast Asian and Indo-Australian waters
Parahydrophis Burger & Natsuno , 1974 1 0 northern mangrove sea snake northern Australia , southern New Guinea
Pelamis Daudin , 1803 1 0 yellow-bellied sea snake Indian and Pacific Oceans
Praescutata Wall , 1921 1 0 from the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean , the South China Sea , and northeast to the coastal region of Fujian and Strait of Taiwan
Taxonomy
Sea snakes were at first regarded as a unified and separate family , the Hydrophiidae , that later came to comprise two subfamilies : the Hydrophiinae , or true/aquatic sea snakes ( now 16 genera with 57 species ) , and the more primitive Laticaudinae , or sea kraits ( one genus , Laticauda , with five species ) . Eventually , as just how closely related the sea snakes are to the elapids became clear , the taxonomic situation became less well-defined . Some taxonomists responded by moving the sea snakes to the Elapidae , thereby creating the subfamilies Elapinae , Hydrophiinae , and Laticaudinae , although the latter may be omitted if Laticauda is included in the Hydrophiinae . No one has yet been able to convincingly work out the phylogenetic relationships between the various elapid subgroups , and the situation is still unclear . Therefore , others opted to either continue to work with the older traditional arrangements , if only for practical reasons , or to lump all of the genera together in the Elapidae , with no taxonomic subdivisions , to reflect the work that remains to be done . [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ]
Sea snakes, or coral reef snakes, are a subfamily of venomous elapid snakes, the Hydrophiinae, that inhabit marine environments for most or all of their lives. Most are extensively adapted to a fully aquatic life and are unable to move on land, except for the genus Laticauda, which has limited land movement. They are found in warm coastal waters from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific and are closely related to venomous terrestrial snakes in Australia. All sea snakes have paddle-like tails and many have laterally compressed bodies that give them an eel-like appearance. Unlike fish, they do not have gills and must surface regularly to breathe. Along with whales, they are among the most completely aquatic of all air-breathing vertebrates. Among this group are species with some of the most potent venoms of all snakes. Some have gentle dispositions and bite only when provoked, but others are much more aggressive. Currently, 17 genera are described as sea snakes, comprising 69 species.