Yellow-Lipped Sea Krait

The Yellow-Lipped Sea Krait is a semi-aquatic elapid found throughout Indo-Pacific coastal waters, from coral reefs to mangroves. Unlike fully aquatic sea snakes, it must return to land to digest food, rest, and lay eggs.

Its venom is highly potent and medically significant, but the species is generally docile and reluctant to bite, resulting in very few reported human envenomations despite frequent encounters by divers and fishers.

• Cylindrical body with a distinctly paddle-shaped tail for swimming
• Bold black bands encircling a bluish-gray or gray body
• Yellow snout and upper lip, giving the species its common name
• Smooth, overlapping ventral scales adapted for movement on land
• Adults typically reach 0.9-1.4 m (3-4.6 ft)

The combination of a paddle tail, black-and-gray banding, and a yellow-tipped snout readily distinguishes this species from terrestrial banded snakes and other sea snakes.

This species inhabits shallow coastal waters, coral reefs, and mangroves throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific, ranging from the Bay of Bengal through Southeast Asia to the western Pacific islands. It regularly comes ashore onto beaches and rocky shorelines to rest, digest, and reproduce.

The Yellow-Lipped Sea Krait is active both day and night, alternating between marine hunting and terrestrial rest periods. It feeds primarily on eels and other reef fish, locating prey in crevices using a keen sense of smell. It is generally docile toward humans and rarely bites even when handled. It is egg-laying, depositing clutches of eggs on land.