First
record of Yellow-bellied Sea Snake Pelamis platurus (Linnaeus, 1766) (Reptilia: Hydrophiidae) from a riverine tract in northern Kerala, India
Muhamed Jafer Palot 1 & C. Radhakrishnan2
1,2 Western GhatRegional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Eranhipalam.
P.O. Kozhikode, Kerala 673006, India
Email: 1 jaferpalot@gmail.com
Date of
publication (online): 26 August 2010
Date of
publication (print): 26 August 2010
ISSN
0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Ashok Captain
Manuscript details:
Ms # o2284
Received 18 August 2009
Final revised received 03
August 2010
Finally accepted 04 August 2010
Citation: Palot, M.J. & C. Radhakrishnan (2010). First
record of Yellow-bellied Sea Snake Pelamis platurus (Linnaeus, 1766)
(Reptilia: Hydrophiidae)
from a riverine tract in northern Kerala, India. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 2(9):
1175-1176.
Copyright: © Muhamed Jafer Palot& C. Radhakrishnan 2010. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 UnportedLicense. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this
article in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by
providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements:The authors are grateful to the Director,
Zoological Survey of India, Kolkatafor facilities and encouragement. Thanks are also due to Dr. K. Kishore Kumar,
Nature Education Officer, Malabar Natural History Society, Kozhikode for the
help rendered during the collection of the specimen from Kallayi,
Kozhikode District.
The family Hydrophiidae is a highly specialized group of exclusively
marine snakes represented by 58 species in the world (Guinea 2003). Distribution of sea snakes is generally
restricted to tropical and subtropical regions of the Indian and Pacific oceans. Studies on sea snakes tend to be poor
because of logistic difficulties inherent in sampling them. Most of the studies on sea snakes rely
on the incidental capture in commercial fishing operations and specimens washed
ashore.
On 23 and
30 May 2009, two specimens of the Yellow-bellied Sea Snake Pelamis platurus were collected from the tidal waters of Kallayi River in Kozhikode District (Image 1) and from the
inland riverine tract of Vadickalkadavuarea in Kuppam River in KannurDistrict respectively, in northern Kerala. Kallayi is situated about 1km east
from the sea mouth, whereas, the Vadickalkadavu area
in Kuppam River is situated about 5km from the sea
mouth of Azheekkal. The two specimens (one each from each locality) were
entangled in fishing nets and were found alive. Identity of the specimens was confirmed visually, based on a
description in Whitaker & Captain (2004): head and dorsal surface shiny
black; underside canary yellow; tail creamish-white,
with large black spots; marks on upper edge of tail, alternate with those on
lower edge.
The specimen fromKallayi River was kept in an aquarium tank for
further observations. In
captivity, it did not take any food even though small live freshwater fishes
and dead marine fishes were offered. It survived for 25 days in the aquarium tank without showing any
discomfort in freshwater. The snake was agile and dived with ease. At times it was observed making complex
loops and coils and running the knots from one end of its body to the other. It also exhibited its ability to swim
backwards.
The fishermen in
the coastal villages of northern Kerala are very familiar with this snake and
it is locally known as Manjakurishipambu,(Manjakurishi = yellowish; pambu= snake) owing to its striking yellow and black colour. The maximum length recorded for this
sea snake is 98cm (Murthy 2007), while the one collected from Kallayi River was only 40cm and the one from Kuppam River much smaller measuring only 29cm.
Twenty species of
sea snakes have been recorded from the coastal waters of India (Smith 1943;
Whitaker & Captain 2004; Murthy 2007). There is little information on the distribution and biology
of sea snakes occurring in the coastal waters of India. Murthy (1977) and Kalairasanand Kanakasabai (1994) reported 10 species belonging
to seven genera from the Chennai coast. Tripathy (2006) reported occurrence of two
species of sea snakes from Rishikulya, Orissa
coast. Goa coast is known for six
species (Lobo 2003). Except for a
trawl by-catch study of four species (Enhydrina schistosa (Daudin), Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, Hydrophis ornatus (Gray), and Lapemis curtus (Shaw)) by Bijukumaret al. (2007), no detailed study is available on the marine snake species off
the coast of Kerala.
The
Yellow-bellied Sea Snake is the most widely distributed sea snake. It is seen throughout the tropical regions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, till the west
coast of Central America and is also recorded from the east African coast. Normally these snakes live in waters
with temperature varying between 11.7 and 36 0C.
In India the
Yellow-bellied Sea Snake is reported from Chennai coast (Ahamed1975; Murthy 1997; Kalairasan & Kanakasabai 1996), Orissa coast (Tripathy2006) and the coastal waters of Goa (Lobo 2003). The species was not listed by Bijukumar et al. (2007) in the survey of Kerala coast. Therefore, the present report forms the
first authentic record of the species from the coastal waters of Kerala. The specimens are deposited at
Zoological Survey of India, Western Ghats Regional Centre, Kozhikode, Kerala (Reg. Nos. 2127 and 2128).
References
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