The Leaf Scaled Sea Snake is a species of venomous Sea Snake that can be found off the Coast of Western Australia in an area known as Shark Bay.
The snake was taught to be only found off the Northern Coast of Australia and was assumed to be extinct until they were rediscovered in Shark Bay.
Leaf Scaled Sea Snake Taxonomy
In the Animal Kingdom, Taxonomy is used as the science and practice of classifying different species and sub-species based on their biological and genetic makeup.
Family
The family that the Leaf Scaled Sea Snake belongs to is called Elapidae or the Elapid family of snakes. This is one of the largest families of venomous snake in the world, along with the viper family.
One of the biggest visible differences between elapids and vipers is their fangs. Most Elapids will have small non-retractable fangs positioned at the front of their mouth while many Vipers have large retractable fangs that tuck into their upper mouth
Some commonly known members of the Elapid family include Cobras, Coral Snakes, Mambas and Copperheads.
At the time of writing, there are 55 different genera of Elapid snakes and over 360 different recognised species and many more sub-species.
All of the species in the Elapid family are venomous except for the species in the Emydocephalus genus, which is a genus of Sea Snakes.
Genus
The genus that the Leaf Scaled Sea Snake belongs to is called Aipysurus. The species in this genus are Sea Snakes that can be found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
There are currently 9 recognised species in this genus, all of which are Sea Snakes. Some of the other species in the genus include the Arafura Sea Snake and the Dusky Sea Snake.
Species
The scientific name for this species is Aipysurus foliosquama and there are currently no recognised sub-species.
The species was first described in 1926 by an English herpetologist name Malcolm Arthur Smith.
Leaf Scaled Sea Snake Description
The Leaf Scaled Sea Snake has overlapping scales that are in the shape of a leaf, hence the name ‘Leaf Scaled’.
They can grow to a decent size with most snakes reaching 60-90cm in length with females typically growing larger than males.
They typically have a dark reddish brown to purple background coloration with lighter bands running down the back of the snake.
Natural Habitat and Distribution
The Leaf Scaled Sea Snake was believed to be only found in the Ashmore Reef and the Hibernia Reef, both of which are located in the Timor Sea, off the North-Western coast of Australia.
These snakes haven’t been seen here for a while and were potentially considered to be extinct until a new population of them has been found in Shark Bay, off the Coast of Western Australia.
There are also reports of these snakes found outside of these three locations but some of these are unverified and don’t seem to represent breeding populations in other areas.
These snakes like to live in areas with shallow waters along the edges of reefs.
All confirmed sightings of these snakes have occurred at depths of less than 10m.
Leaf Scaled Sea Snake Behaviour
The Leaf Scaled Sea Snake is a solitary species that are usually only seen together during the mating season.
However, they have been observed a number of times in small groups so further study into this would will hopefully help us better understand their behaviours.
This species of snake is viviparous, meaning they give birth to live young as opposed to laying eggs like many species of snake.
They have a gestation period of around 6 to 7 months before a small number of live babies are born.
Because of this long gestation period, it is believed that these snakes will likely not breed every year as the female will need time to replenish her energy.
