In people's subconscious, snakes are cold-blooded animals
Especially for girls, it is almost a snake discoloration
It can be seen that people are very afraid of snakes
It's no wonder people have this mindset
After all, snake venom is a very scary thing
But then again, snakes are venomous
But it does not attack people easily
Today, Xiaobian will introduce the cold-blooded killer from the deep sea--- sea snake. Perhaps after reading this article and learning more about sea snakes, you will find that snakes are not so terrible.
The sea snake (pelamis platurus), a subfamily of the family Cobras of the order Ceratophyllaceae, also known as the "blue-ringed sea snake" and "spotted sea snake", is a reptile living in the ocean, similar to the subfamily cobra, and is a venomous snake with anterior groove teeth. Its tail side is flattened like a paddle, and the back of the trunk is slightly flattened. Sea snakes are found in warm-water oceans from the Persian Gulf in the west to Japan in the east and Australia in the south, but there are no sea snakes in the Atlantic Ocean.
Morphological characteristics
Due to the difference in living environment, sea snakes and land snakes have obvious differences in physiology and ecology.
Tail: The front half of the sea snake is small, cylindrical, the back half is thicker, and the tail is not as slender as a whip like a land snake, but flattened on the side like a paddle. When swimming in the sea, the tail of the sea snake can move forward like a boat.
Valves: For diving needs, sea snakes have a pair of valves that can be opened and closed in the nostrils to prevent seawater from entering the body from the nasal cavity.
Lungs: The lungs of sea snakes are also particularly long, almost extending from the throat to the tail, which can not only store air, but also regulate the body's floating and sinking.
Scales: Sea snakes, like land snakes, are covered in scales. However, the scales of sea snakes are relatively sparse, and many of the body surfaces are not covered by scales. The skin in these areas is particularly thick, which can prevent the salt from penetrating into the body from the seawater, and at the same time has the function of preventing the dispersion of water in the body.
Habits of life
Sea snakes prefer to inhabit shallow waters around the continental shelf and islands, and are rarely seen in open seas with water depths of more than 100 meters. Some prefer to stay in muddy water on the bottom of the sand or mud, while others prefer to move in the clear water around the coral reef. Sea snake dives vary in depth, some deeper and some shallower. Someone once saw a sea snake at a depth of forty or fifty meters.
Shallow water sea snakes generally dive for no more than 30 minutes, and the time spent on the surface of the water is also very short, each time just showing their heads, and quickly taking a breath and diving into the water again.
Deep-water sea snakes stay on the surface of the water for a long time, especially in the evening and at night. They dive for 2 to 3 hours.
Sea snakes have the habit of tending and flocking, often gathering in thousands and drifting down the river. Therefore, the fertility and mating of sea snakes is extremely spectacular. Whenever the breeding season comes, flocks of female and male sea snakes often gather together, sometimes as many as millions. They chase each other, following the waves, and their teams can sometimes stretch for miles. When they congregate in port, even ships cannot navigate normally.
food
Sea snakes are selective about food. The feeding habits of many sea snakes are related to their body shape. Some sea snakes have thick and large bodies, thin and long necks, and surprisingly small heads. Such sea snakes feed almost exclusively on burrowing eels.
Some sea snakes feed on fish eggs. These sea snakes have small and few teeth, and their teeth and glands are not large. There are also sea snakes that like to prey on fish with poisonous spines on their bodies, and there is a sea snake that feeds exclusively on the eeltail catfish in the North Sayan Sea in the Philippines. The stingers on the eeltails are very painful, and can even stab people into serious injuries, but the sea snake does not care about this. In addition to fish, sea snakes often attack larger creatures.
reproduction
In the reproductive season of sea snakes, they often gather together to form a long snake array that stretches for tens of kilometers, which is the phenomenon of large-scale gatherings of sea snakes during the reproductive period. Some ports sometimes boil over because sea snakes float on the water. The breeding method of fully aquatic sea snakes is oviparous, and 3 to 4 small sea snakes 20 to 30 cm long are laid at a time. However, sea snakes that can come ashore still remain egg-laying. They lay their eggs on the beachfront beach and allow it to hatch naturally.
natural enemies
Sea snakes also have natural predators, and sea eagles and other carnivorous seabirds eat sea snakes. As soon as they saw the sea snake swimming on the surface of the sea, they swooped down from the air at a rapid speed, picked up one and flew away. Despite their fierceness, sea snakes are incapacitated once they leave the water and are almost completely defenseless. In addition, some sharks also feed on sea snakes.
toxicity
The venom of sea snakes belongs to the strongest animal venom. Hook-billed sea snakes are twice as venomy as cobra venom and 80 times more toxic than sodium cyanide. The composition of sea snake venom is a nerve venom similar to cobra venom. Curiously, however, the site of damage to the body by their venom is mainly the voluntary muscle, not the nervous system.
Sea snake bites without pain, and its toxic attack has a period of incubation, and there are no obvious symptoms of poisoning for 30 minutes or even 3 hours after being bitten by a sea snake. However, this is dangerous and can easily paralyze people. In fact, sea snake venom is absorbed by the human body very quickly, and the first thing you feel after poisoning is muscle weakness, soreness, droopy eyelids, strong jaws, a bit like the symptoms of tetanus, and the heart and kidneys will also be seriously damaged. People who are bitten can die within hours to days. Most sea snakes only injure people when they are harassed.
The most venomous animal in the world is the "king of poisonous snakes", the slender-scaled Taipan snake. The sea snake is about the same as it is, and it is listed as the most venomous snake in the world. The venom of the slender-scaled Taipan snake is 20 times that of the Eye Snake King, and its venom can poison 250,000 mice in 24 hours. Among them, it is recorded that the Aquittling sea snake living in Australia is listed as one of the 10 most poisonous animals in the world. The Sea Snake, which lives on the Asian island of Timor, is also the most venomous animal in the world. Sea snake bites can kill people in tens of minutes.
Medicinal value
The sea snake is Hypertherm. Like terrestrial snakes, sea snakes have high economic value and can be used for rheumatism, numbness in the limbs, joint pain, scabies and other symptoms. Their skins can also be used to make musical instruments and handicrafts; snake meat and snake eggs are edible and delicious; sea snake wine can also be used as a good medicine to drive away wind and blood, relieve pain, and some internal organs can be medicated.
Sea snake bile: Traditional medicine believes that snake bile has the effect of gasifying phlegm, searching for wind and dampness, clearing the liver and eyes, etc., and can be used to treat cough, asthma and other diseases.
Sea snake oil: Coastal fishermen often boil sea snake oil, which is used externally for water and fire burns, frostbite, mosquito bites, etc.
Sea snake venom: Sea snake venom is very toxic, far more toxic than land snakes. Modern medical research believes that only from the sea snake venom, it contains a variety of biological enzymes, has a high biological activity, can be isolated and purified a variety of enzymes, for medicine, scientific research and biological engineering. This has aroused the great attention of all countries.
Do the little sea meters still think that sea snakes are scary like xiaobians? If you also know what magical marine animals are, you can tell the editor! We also welcome everyone to interact with more Haimi in the Haimi community!