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Scubadoc's Diving Medicine Online
Comprehensive
information
about
diving
and undersea medicine for the non-medical diver, the non-diving
physician and the specialist.
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Sea Snakes*
Read About Other Predators Here
Table of Contents for Diving Medicine Here
Read Frequently Asked Questions Here
Have Questions? Visit our Scuba Clinic Forum
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Decompression Sickness
Sea snakes are air breathers probably
descended from a family of
Australian land snakes. They inhabit the tropical waters of the
Indo-Pacific
and are highly venomous. Thirty-two species have been identified in the
waters about the Barrier Reef in Australia. They seem to congregate in
certain areas in the region about the swain Reefs and the Keppel
Islands,
where the olive sea snake (Aipysurus laevis) is a familiar sight.
Sea snakes have specialized flattened
tails for swimming and have
valves over their nostrils which are closed underwater. They differ
from
eels in that they don't have gill slits and have scales. Due to their
need
to breathe air, they are usually found in shallow water where they swim
about the bottom feeding on fish, fish eggs and eels.
The yellow-bellied sea snake (
Pelamis platurus ) is pelagic,
and is seen on occasions floating in massive groups. Fish that come up
to shelter under these slicks provide food for the snakes. Occasionally
these yellow-bellies get washed up on beaches after storms and pose a
hazard
to children.
Aggressive only during the mating
season in the winter, the sea snake
is very curious, and they become fascinated by elongated objects such
as
high pressure hoses. Advice here is to inflate your BC so as to lift
away
from the bottom and the snake. Provoked snakes can become very
aggressive
and persistent --requiring repeated kicks from the fins to ward them
off.
Persistent myths about sea snakes
include the mistaken idea that
they can't bite very effectively. The truth is that their short fangs
(2.5-4.5mm)
are adequate to penetrate the skin, and they can open their small
mouths
wide enough to bite a table top. It is said that even a small snake can
bite a man's thigh. Sea snakes can swallow a fish that is more than
twice
the diameter of their neck.
Most sea snake bites occur on trawlers,
when the snakes are sometimes
hauled in with the catch. Only a small proportion of bites are fatal to
man, as the snake can control the amount of envenomation, a fact
probably
accounting for the large number of folk cures said to be 95% effective.
Intense pain is not obvious at the
site of the sea snake bite; 30
minutes after the bite there is stiffness, muscle aches and spasm of
the
jaw followed by moderate to severe pain in the affected limb. There
follows
progressive CNS symptoms of blurred vision, drowsiness and finally
respiratory
paralysis. A specific antivenin is available.
*Barrier Reef Traveler, Colfelt
