Adaptation

Aquatic Environment- To adapt to living in aquatic environment they possess a flattened, paddle-like tail for swimming. Another adaptation to living underwater was the valve nostrils, which can be closed when the snake dives underwater.  This also keeps water from entering their lungs.  Like most sea snakes, their lungs are stretched out in the body to allow the snake to retain more oxygen for a long periods of time. They also can carry out cutaneous respiration. This allows them to diffuse oxygen from the water through their skin into the blood stream, and then release carbon dioxide through the skin too. They also have developed salt excreting glands under their tongue to regulate the salinity in the snakes body. This is helpful since they live in salt water environments. Since most of their life is in water and swimming, the sea snake lacks an expanded belly scales that most other snakes use for moving on land.

Olfactory Advancements- Like all snakes, the beaked sea snake are known for their use of smelling through there forked tongues. They pass the particles they catch in their tongues to their Jacobson's organ in their mouth for examination. The organ is used as a auxiliary olfactory sense organ.  It gives the snake a sort of directional sense of smell and taste at the same time. They keep this tongue in motion constantly by sticking it out in the environment continuously.

 

 

 

Predation Advancements- Like all snakes, the beaked sea snake lacks limbs. This causes them to feed by swallowing their prey whole. This adaptation, of a unusually flexible jaw mechanism, enables them to swallow other organisms that are far larger than them diameter wise. Before any swallowing can take place, the snake uses its very potent venom to paralyze and disarm its prey. They locate their prey  by touching and by detecting movement, rather than relying on vision mainly. This allows them to hunt and fed in low visibility or at night. It also has been shown that snakes with larger snout-vent prey on larger organisms with smaller snout-vent. Learn more about feeding on the Nutrition page.

`

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learn more about Nutrition next!

 

Back to Home Page.
To Contact me go to my Contact Page.