SEA-SNAKES. 



227, 



adaptation to an aquatic life. Living in the sea, or in tidal waters, their move- 

 ments in the clear blue water are agile and elegant; but when thrown ashore, 

 as frequently happens, the majority are helpless. Their food consists of fish and 

 such other creatures as they can capture in the sea. In parts of the Bay of Bengal, 

 sea-snakes are sometimes seen congregating in large shoals. The group is divided 

 into nine genera, no less than six of which are represented in Indian waters. 



Broad-Tailed The broad-tailed sea-snakes, of which there are three species. 



Sea-Snakes, constituting the genus Platurus, in general appearance closely 

 resemble some of the craits, especially as regards the shape of the skull and the 

 scaling of the head and body, but are distinguished by the compression and depth 



BANDED SEA-SNAKE ( nat. size). 



of the tail. In the upper jaw, which is very short, there is in the maxilla of each 

 side a pair of large grooved fangs, followed by a single very small solid tooth. 

 The arrangement of the shields of the head is normal, each nostril being pierced in 

 a laterally-placed nasal ; the scales on the body are smooth and overlapping, and 

 the inferior surface is covered with large shields. Of the three species, the banded 

 sea-snake (P. laticaudatus) is distinguished by the absence of a keel on the lower 

 surface of the hinder-part of the body, and also of an unpaired shield on the 

 muzzle ; the scales being arranged in nineteen rows. In colour, it is olive above 

 and yellowish beneath, with black rings fully equal in width to the light inter- 

 spaces. Attaining a length of a little over a yard, this species ranges from the 

 Bay of Bengal and the China Sea to Polynesia. An allied but larger species 



