Cottonmouth / Water Moccasin
Agkistrodon piscivorus • Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Viperidae, Subfamily: Crotalinae, Genus: Agkistrodon, Species: A. piscivorus
Southeastern United States, ranging from southern Virginia down through Florida and west to East Texas and parts of central Oklahoma and Kansas.
Look up Cottonmouth / Water Moccasin in the Snake Encyclopedia →Family
Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Viperidae, Subfamily: Crotalinae, Genus: Agkistrodon, Species: A. piscivorus
Conservation
IUCN Red List status is Least Concern, though local populations face threats from habitat destruction, pollution, and direct persecution by humans.
Physical Description
Robust body with dark brown or blackish crossbands or blotches, a distinctly blocky, triangular head, and a prominent pale stripe running from the snout along the side of the head past the eye.
Size & Dimensions
Typical adults range from 60 to 120 cm (24 to 48 inches) in total length, with exceptional individuals growing larger. This specimen appears to be a medium-sized adult or subadult.
Habitat
Semi-aquatic, commonly found near slow-moving bodies of water such as streams, swamps, marshes, drainage ditches, ponds, and lake margins, though they can occasionally wander some distance from water.
Diet & Feeding
Generalist predator feeding primarily on fish, frogs, small mammals, birds, reptiles, and occasionally invertebrates. Primarily an ambush predator.
Reproduction
Ovoviviparous, giving birth to live young. Mating typically occurs in the spring, and litters usually range from 1 to 20 young born in late summer or early autumn.
Conservation Status
IUCN Red List status is Least Concern, though local populations face threats from habitat destruction, pollution, and direct persecution by humans.
Cultural Significance
Plays an important role in the aquatic and wetland food webs of the southeastern United States by helping control populations of fish and small mammals.
Notable Features
Known for its display of standing its ground and opening its mouth wide to show the stark white interior lining, which gives the species its common name.