THE REPTILES OF AUSTRALIA -True Sea Snakes and Sea Kraits

YELLOW BELLIED SEA SNAKE
Hydrophis (was Pelamis) platurus

Highly Venomous
(but rarely bites humans)

Distribution:- Occurs in tropical oceanic waters around the world except for the Atlantic Ocean.

There are 2 currently recognised subspecies of Yellow-bellied Sea Snake Hydrophis (was Pelamis) listed below (as of March 2020)

Common Yellow-bellied Sea Snake (Hydrophis platurus platurus)

(Hydrophis platurus platurus) "180110-yellow-bellied-snake-0711" by The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Preserved Common Yellow-bellied Sea Snake (Hydrophis platurus platurus) on display at the Canberra Library



Yellow Sea Snake (Hydrophis platurus xanthos) Gabriele Kothe-Heinrich, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
This Yellow subspecies only occurs in Golfo Dulce on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica

Venomous snakes do not always inject venom when biting, those bites are called dry bites, however due to the extremely high toxicity of the venom of this species, it is vital that first aid is performed immediately (constrictive bandage etc.) and the patient is taken as fast as possible to hospital. Lack of symptoms may not mean that the victim has not been envenomated.

Correct and immediate first aid and treatment for this species and other dangerous snakes increases the chance of survival.

Although people are commonly bitten by dangerous snakes in Australia, the actual number of deaths is actually very low, due to antivenines and medical procedures.