Water Moccasin

The water moccasin, more widely known as the cottonmouth, is the only semi-aquatic pit viper in North America, common in wetlands throughout the southeastern United States. It is well known for its defensive gape display, revealing the pale interior of its mouth.

Often confused with harmless water snakes, cottonmouths are heavier-bodied and more sluggish, relying on camouflage and defensive displays rather than fleeing.

• Heavy, thick body, olive, brown, or nearly black, with dark crossbands often obscured in older adults
• Broad, triangular head distinct from the neck, with heat-sensing pits
• Vertical pupils, though hard to see in bright light
• White, cotton-like mouth lining displayed when threatened
• Distinguished from nonvenomous water snakes by blocky head, pits, and swimming with body riding high on the water

Found in swamps, marshes, sluggish streams, ponds, and drainage ditches across the southeastern United States, from the coastal plain inland to parts of the Mississippi valley.

Primarily nocturnal in warm months, more diurnal in cooler weather. Feeds on fish, frogs, other snakes, and small mammals. Known for a bold, stationary defensive posture with mouth agape rather than fleeing. Ovoviviparous, bearing live young in late summer.