Reptiles
Banded Sea Krait
Laticauda colubrina · Reptile, family Elapidae, subfamily Laticaudinae; an amphibious sea snake, also called the yellow-lipped sea krait
The banded sea krait commutes between worlds. It hunts eels in reef crevices on breath-holds that can pass half an hour, then hauls out on rocks and islets to digest, shed, drink fresh water, and lay eggs: a genuinely amphibious snake, paddle-tailed at one end and land-capable at the other. The venom is potently neurotoxic, and that fact sits beside another: unprovoked bites on divers are essentially unheard of. Kraits treat people as scenery, threading between fins and poking into holes mid-dive with total focus. The etiquette is correspondingly simple: never handle, never corner, and give a rising snake a clear lane to the surface, because it is on a breath just as you are. Females run far larger than males, and several look-alike kraits and true sea snakes share the range.
Where and when to see one
"Resident" means most dives at that destination encounter them; "seasonal" means reliably present in the listed months; anything else is a bonus, not a plan.
| Destination | Reliability | Months | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sipadan & MabulMalaysia | Resident: seen on most dives | Year-round | |
| Dumaguete, Dauin & Apo IslandPhilippines | Resident: seen on most dives | Year-round | |
| Banda Sea & AmbonIndonesia | Resident: seen on most dives | Year-round | |
| Bunaken & ManadoIndonesia | Resident: seen on most dives | Year-round | |
| Beqa Lagoon & Pacific HarbourFiji | Resident: seen on most dives | Year-round |
Best month, at a glance
Understanding them
Habitat: Coral reefs and adjacent shallows for hunting; rocks, islets, and shorelines for digesting, shedding, drinking, and egg-laying.
Range: Eastern Indian Ocean and western Pacific, from Sabah and the Philippines through Indonesia and New Guinea to Fiji and other Pacific islands.
Behavior: A true amphibian commuter: forages underwater on breath-holds that can pass half an hour, then returns to land. Utterly indifferent to divers, often threading between fins mid-hunt.
Diet: Eels above all, hunted deep in reef crevices; large females take bigger conger and moray prey than males.
Size: typically around 0.9 m; documented up to 1.5 m (total length; females run far larger than males).
How to behave around one
Give a hunting krait space to work and a rising one a clear lane to the surface: it is on a breath just as you are. Hands stay away, always.
Conservation
Listed Least Concern; localized pressure comes from coastal development of nesting shores and incidental capture in nets.
Charted sites known for them
Highlighted sites were charted for this species by our editors; numbers are GBIF occurrence records logged within about 5 km of a site since 1990.
Watch
From the official channels
Wildlife of Monterey | New film in our auditorium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
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