Spine-bellied Sea Snake

The spine-bellied sea snake, also called Shaw's sea snake or the short sea snake, is a fully marine, live-bearing, front-fanged and highly venomous elapid. It is widely distributed in warm tropical waters, from the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, including Sri Lanka, through the South China Sea and Indo-Australian Archipelago to northern Australia. It is collected for food, for medicine and for its skin (Wikipedia, general species account).

Both sexes have spiny scales, but those of males are more highly developed, and this may play a role in courtship or reduce drag when swimming. The number of ventral scales and the degree of parietal scale fragmentation vary widely. It was once treated as two species, Hydrophis curtus and Hydrophis hardwickii, but a study of over 1,400 specimens concluded it is one. Nationally Least Concern (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012, listed as Lapemis curtus).