Sea snakes (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) in their westernmost extent: an updated and illustrated checklist and key to the species in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman

Abstract

The Persian Gulf is known as the westernmost distribution limit for sea snakes, except for Hydrophis platurus (Linnaeus, 1766) that reaches southeastern Africa. Previous identification guides for sea snakes of the Persian Gulf and its adjacent waters in the Gulf of Oman were based on old data and confined mostly to written descriptions. Therefore, a series of field surveys were carried out in 2013 and 2014 through Iranian coastal waters of both gulfs to provide a comprehensive sampling of sea snakes in the area. This paper presents an illustrated and updated checklist and identification tool for sea snakes in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, which are based on new material and a review of the literature. This checklist includes ten species of marine hydrophiines, of which one, Microcephalophis cantoris (Günther, 1864), is a new record for the area. All specimens examined herein are deposited and available at the Zoological Museum of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman province, Iran.

Identifikasi ular laut di perairan Pulau Tuan Kecamatan Peukan Bada Kabupaten Aceh Besar

“…Data diambil menggunakan observasi metode Timed Swim (Yulianto et al, 2013) dengan batas jarak pengambilan 1 km dari bibir Pantai Pulau Tuan. Data yang diambil berupa foto dan kemudian diidentifikasi menggunakan jurnal-jurnal terdahulu (Pratiska et al, 2017;Kim et al, 2016;Rezaie et al, 2016). Perbandingan foto dilihat secara morfologi dari beberapa bagian seperti pola warna, kepala, bentuk tubuh dan warna tubuh keseluruhan (Rezaie et al, 2016;Damotharan et al, 2010;Gillett et al, 2014).…”

“…Data yang diambil berupa foto dan kemudian diidentifikasi menggunakan jurnal-jurnal terdahulu (Pratiska et al, 2017;Kim et al, 2016;Rezaie et al, 2016). Perbandingan foto dilihat secara morfologi dari beberapa bagian seperti pola warna, kepala, bentuk tubuh dan warna tubuh keseluruhan (Rezaie et al, 2016;Damotharan et al, 2010;Gillett et al, 2014). Identifikasi menggunakan jurnal "Marine Reptile karya dari " dan jurnal "Diversity, Biology and Ecology of Sea Snakes (Hydrophiidae) Distributed Along The Parangipettai Coast, Southeast Coast of India karya dari Damotharan et al (2010)".Untuk data parameter perairan yang diambil meliputi salinitas dengan menggunakan refraktometer, suhu dengan menggunakan termometer dan pH dengan menggunakan pHmeter.…”

First record of an Annulated Seasnake, Hydrophis cyanocinctus (Daudin 1803), from the Surat District, South Gujarat, India

“…WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNAL T he Annulated Seasnake (Hydrophis cyanocinctus) is a venomous viviparous snake that occurs along the entire coast of India (Fig. 1) within a broader distribution along coastal regions from the Persian Gulf to Japan and the Indo-Australian Archipelago (Whitaker and Captain 2008;Rezaie-Atagholipour et al 2016). Hydrophis cyanocinctus generally inhabits shallow coastal waters, where it is often accidentally caught by prawn trawlers (Das 2006).…”

Contribution of citizen science to improve knowledge on marine biodiversity in the Gulf Region

“…The scientific names of sea snakes indicated in the publications that we have cited in this study follow different nomenclatures, such as Reptile Data Base (RDB), World Register of Marine Species (WORM), or recent taxonomic studies (Sanders et al, 2013;Rezaie-Atagholipour et al, 2016). In this paper (texts and tables) we have always used the names of the snakes indicated in the Reptile Data Base to keep constancy and try to reduce confusion among the readers.…”

“…Sea snake species are a diverse group with more than 60 species described that are often abundant in coral-reef ecosystems (Rasmussen et al, 2011;Rezaie-Atagholipour et al, 2016). They are considered ecological indicators of the health status of coral reefs (Brischoux et al, 2009) where they play an important role as both predators and prey (Brischoux and Bonnet, 2008).…”