Sea Snake ? Identification Help!
Your Name
visited Cozumel and stayed at the Hotel Fontan. I have been diving for 12
years and decided to snorkle off the hotel beach. I spent 15 minutes or more
attempting to identify what I can only describe as a snake. It was about 4
foot long and beign or tan in color with with spots on its body. It appeared
to be tubular as opposed to flat and I could not get a good look at the
head. It was on the bottom at about 15 feet of depth moving under and around
rocks. I have not been able to identify this snake. Diving friends have said
there are no sea snakes in the Carribean. That is fine, but what did I sea.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Gary
Art Greenberg
Your friends are correct, there are no sea snakes in the Atlantic or the
Caribbean. What you saw was most likely a snake eel, which is a fish,
not a reptile. I think specifically you saw a Sharp-Tailed Eel. They are
primarily nocturnal, so sighting one in the daytime is fairly rare though
not at all unheard of.
BTW, if you could see the head, you'd know immediately that it was not a
snake. Without that, I can't fault you ...
--
Art Greenberg
artg at eclipse dot net
www dot eclipse dot net slash tilde artg
Chuck
picture I took in front of La Ceiba a few years ago.
CH
Your Name <wal...@worldnet.att.net@AT&T WorldNet Service> wrote in message
news:7ul3u7$97v$1...@bgtnsc01.worldnet.att.net...
> I realize that sea snakes are primarily in the Pacific, but recently I
> visited Cozumel and stayed at the Hotel Fontan. I have been diving for 12
> years and decided to snorkle off the hotel beach. I spent 15 minutes or
more
> attempting to identify what I can only describe as a snake. It was about 4
> foot long and beign or tan in color with with spots on its body. It
appeared
> to be tubular as opposed to flat and I could not get a good look at the
> head. It was on the bottom at about 15 feet of depth moving under and
around
> rocks. I have not been able to identify this snake. Diving friends have
said
> there are no sea snakes in the Carribean. That is fine, but what did I
sea.
> Any help will be appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Gary
>
>
>
Brian E. Baker
<wal...@worldnet.att.net@AT&T WorldNet Service> wrote:
>I realize that sea snakes are primarily in the Pacific, but recently I
>visited Cozumel and stayed at the Hotel Fontan. I have been diving for 12
>years and decided to snorkle off the hotel beach. I spent 15 minutes or more
>attempting to identify what I can only describe as a snake. It was about 4
>foot long and beign or tan in color with with spots on its body. It appeared
>to be tubular as opposed to flat and I could not get a good look at the
>head. It was on the bottom at about 15 feet of depth moving under and around
>rocks. I have not been able to identify this snake. Diving friends have said
>there are no sea snakes in the Carribean. That is fine, but what did I sea.
>Any help will be appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Gary
>
>
Gary,
I have seen many sharptail eels in Cozumel. A sharptail looks like a
snake. I have some pictures in my dive log if you want to look
install IDL from www.immersions.com.
-----
You can view all of my dive logs, trip reports,
pictures & video using IDL @ http://www.immersions.com
-----
Pmcduffee
>A sharp tailed eel. http://www.aldora.com/gallery/chsharp.shtml is a
>picture I took in front of La Ceiba a few years ago.
Yep, that's my guess as well. Saw one several times just off the pier at
Captain Don's Habitat in Bonaire, several years or so ago. Mostly around dusk
and the change of shift, fish shift that is.
A very pretty animal I might add as well.
Pat
--
O
o
.
(:))
I Call you My Friend, because You are My Friend.
Nekton Pilot, May 20 - 27, 2000. Be there or be square.
wi...@reefnet.on.ca
>Your friends are correct, there are no sea snakes in the Atlantic or the
>Caribbean. What you saw was most likely a snake eel, which is a fish,
>not a reptile. I think specifically you saw a Sharp-Tailed Eel. They are
>primarily nocturnal, so sighting one in the daytime is fairly rare though
>not at all unheard of.
Yes, a sharptail. During our photo shoot last summer in Bonaire we each did 56
day dives and saw plenty of sharptails. Fewer on night dives. They don't seem
to understand that they're supposed to be night feeders.
Les
ReefNet Software
http://www.reefnet.on.ca/reefseries.html
Art Greenberg
> Yes, a sharptail. During our photo shoot last summer in Bonaire we each did 56
> day dives and saw plenty of sharptails. Fewer on night dives. They don't seem
> to understand that they're supposed to be night feeders.
Indeed, my first experience with a sharp-tailed eel was in Bonaire, and
in the middle of the day. My wife and I were with Dee Scarr, on one of
her "Touch the Sea" guided dives around the Town Pier (Dee is a fabulous
person and we loved the dive with her, BTW). Among the creatures we met
that day was a sharp-tailed that followed us around like a puppy dog,
even swimming around and in my BC. When we stopped to say hello to
"Captain Don", a large-ish spotted moray, that sharp-tailed eel went
wild, behaving as if it was jealous of the attention Don was getting!
Unbelievable...
may...@ringer.cs.utsa.edu
: Yes, a sharptail. During our photo shoot last summer in Bonaire we each did 56
: day dives and saw plenty of sharptails. Fewer on night dives. They don't seem
: to understand that they're supposed to be night feeders.
I once watched a sharptail go into a hole in the sand in a manner that I
never expected. He went in head first until he was half-way in. He then
put his tail into the hole also, forming a loop outside after which he
started withdrawing the head end while inserting the tail end, i.e. there
was a constant sized loop of eel outside of the hole while the eel flowed
around the loop. When his head finally appeared he then backed in the
rest of the way.
Since nobody has mentioned it yet, they don't bite, even with handling.
(normal disclaimer about handling)
--
* Hugh B. Maynard
UTSA * may...@cs.utsa.edu
An Administrative University of the * may...@ringer.cs.utsa.edu
FIRST RANK * may...@runner.utsa.edu
Reef Fish (Large Nassau Grouper)
>
> On 21 Oct 1999 00:46:27 -0500, wi...@reefnet.on.ca wrote:
> > Yes, a sharptail. During our photo shoot last summer in Bonaire we each did 56
> > day dives and saw plenty of sharptails. Fewer on night dives. They don't seem
> > to understand that they're supposed to be night feeders.
>
> in the middle of the day. My wife and I were with Dee Scarr, on one of
> her "Touch the Sea" guided dives around the Town Pier (Dee is a fabulous
> person and we loved the dive with her, BTW). Among the creatures we met
> that day was a sharp-tailed that followed us around like a puppy dog,
> even swimming around and in my BC. When we stopped to say hello to
> "Captain Don", a large-ish spotted moray, that sharp-tailed eel went
> wild, behaving as if it was jealous of the attention Don was getting!
> Unbelievable...
>
> --
> Art Greenberg
Art, lots of critters like to follow you like puppy dogs, don't
they? Like my cousin Freddie the Nassau Grouper at Marilyn's
Cut of Little Cayman. When is the trip report forthcoming?
I dived on the same Cayman Aggressor week in 1991 with Paul Humann
who was still taking photos for his SECOND book. I happened to
have noticed that in his first edition of the Reef Fish book, he
had (on pp. 254-255; snake eel/ sharptail eel) the characterization
"Rare throughout range" (Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas), and I told
Paul they were not rare at all -- in Cozumel.
In Humann's Enlarged 2nd Edition of the Reef Fish book (pp. 372)
the ABUNDANCE & DISTRIBTION now reads: Occasional to uncommon
Florida and continental coasts of Caribbean; uncommon to rare
Bahamas, Caribbean islands; slso Bermuda.
Paul has also added pictures and descriptions of the Goldspotted
Eel (brown spots) which I have also seen in Cozumel -- rarer than
the white-spotted sharptail eel; and the spotted spoon-nosed eel
(p. 374) and the spotted snake eel (p. 375) which I have not seen.
-- Bob.
Art Greenberg
> Art, lots of critters like to follow you like puppy dogs, don't
> they? Like my cousin Freddie the Nassau Grouper at Marilyn's
> Cut of Little Cayman.
Well Bob, you're right. As I think about it, there's that eel in
Bonaire, and Freddie (what a personality!) and a few angelfish that
actually fought over me at Angelfish Reef in the Caymans (no, I was
*not* feeding them!). Not to mention the yellowtail snappers that are
everywhere in the Caribbean ....
I did have a rather large 'cuda follow me once on a North Carolina
wreck.
OTOH, I have never been followed by anything (other than my wife) on
New Jersey wrecks. I guess all species up here are antisocial! <bg>
> When is the trip report forthcoming?
My first opportunity to work on the trip report will be this weekend. I
will actually *not* be diving ... hard to believe. 8-(
You'll be among the first to know when it's ready ...
Rosalie B.
>A sharp tailed eel. http://www.aldora.com/gallery/chsharp.shtml is a
>picture I took in front of La Ceiba a few years ago.
Apparently there are now 3 underwater newsgroups for pictures and the
original one (alt.binaries.images.underwater) is almost exclusively
for pictures of marine life. I'd appreciate some of you who are
underwater photographers posting to that site, as I lost all the
images posted before Feb 99 when the motherboard of my computer went
north.
(The other two -alt.binaries.images.underwater.non-violent.moderated
and alt binaries.pictures.underwater- have other stated objectives.
ABIUN-VM is for underwater erotica, and in ABPU anything goes
including drownings)
grandma Rosalie
thorsten schaette
snake eel :-)
check out my trip report from Cozumel Ihave pictures posted there of
that eel :-)
http://www.omegabbs.com/users/gorace
they do look like snakes, though, no doubt
Thorsten
pnix
eel. I did not see where he came from, but he did not seem to like me being
there to much and actually came after me. Scared the p*ss out of me. I was
turned over (belly up) and kicking as fast as I could and he kept coming.
Got close enough to me that I kicked him with my fin. After the second hit,
he finally backed off. I have been swimming in these waters since '69, and
never had anything like that happen before. Thread just brought that back to
my mind, something to share.
Phil
thorsten schaette wrote in message <38192607...@news.omegabbs.com>...