Comments on: The deadliest sea snake is actually two look-alike species

By: Ron Lilley

Ron Lilley — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 02:52:06 +0000

Very interesting all this… I was hoping to have a look at the seasnakes around Bali, where I live Lindley McKay reckons there might be around 15 species of sea snakes around Bali, but the work has not yet been done. To this end, I was wondering how I might procure some funding (any offers??) to go out with the fishermen at night, using a net and a bright light to catch sea snakes. While I am confident in using a grab and stick to catch and restain venomous terrestrial snakes here, I was wondering whether there are any additional hazards to be aware of when actually lifting sea snakes out of the sea and into a boat for closer inspection (apart from there being no sea snake antivenom here in Indonesia!). Bryan and others – any helpful tips? Thanks!

By: Winterwind

Winterwind — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 07:56:53 +0000

Fascinating. Also I think this is my new favourite definition of convergent evolution: “… when different species turn up at life’s party wearing the same clothes.”

By: Cmdr. Awesome

Cmdr. Awesome — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 16:32:22 +0000

Ahhh, cool beans. Thanks

As an aside I’m so used to papers in general being paywalled that I didn’t even click the link to see if this one was. Silly me, and apologies for not doing my own research there.

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 16:17:46 +0000

@Cmdr Awesome. Good Q. From the paper:

“However, a key aspect of sea snake venom evolution, that has prevented this misidentification from having catastrophic medical implications, is that all sea snake venoms are very streamlined due to feeding on a single higher taxon (bony fish) (Fry et al., 2003). Consequently all sea snake venoms tested to-date have been well-neutralised by the only available antivenom”

@R. E. Hunter – It’s not uncommon for different populations of the same species to have distinct colour schemes or physical features. I think the chin scale – found in only these species and no others – was a red herring.

By: R. E. Hunter

R. E. Hunter — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 16:04:18 +0000

I’m a little surprised these were ever seen as the same species given the pictures you show, which show dramatic coloration differences, and clear differences in the shape of the head. Were such things not taken into account previously?

By: Cmdr. Awesome

Cmdr. Awesome — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 14:38:04 +0000

Is there any indication of how likely it is that both species’ venom would be counterable with the same agent? For instance, do sea snakes in general share a limited number of venom types which are structurally similar across the board, or is this just a wildly unlikely event?

Actually, this leads to a second venom-ignorant question – how different are variations of the same type of venom – is it common for two venoms of the same general type (say, two haemotoxins or two neurotoxins), but produced by two different species, to be directly counterable by the same antivenin?