Cat-eyed Fishing Snake

The cat-eyed fishing snake, also called the cat-eyed water snake or glossy marsh snake, is the only species in the genus Gerarda, in the family Homalopsidae. It feeds almost exclusively on crabs, which it tears into bite-sized pieces by pulling them through its coils, unlike most snakes, which swallow prey whole (Wikipedia, general species account).

The body is uniform dark olive above, with the three outer rows of scales whitish, a white upper lip and whitish ventrals edged with dark. The genus was named by John Edward Gray in 1849, and the species name honours the French naturalist Florent Prévost. No status is given for it in the Sri Lanka National Red List 2012 list checked.