Natural History:
Tentacled
snakes are truly unique: there are no other species that share the paired
tentacle structures, while those species with single nose projections are
arboreal. The ventral scales are very small in this species, and though it
can move about on land, it does so both rarely and poorly. Tentacled
snakes are almost wholly aquatic, living in fresh and brackish water.
Their gray and brown-mottled skin is generally covered with a coat of
green algae, lost only after a shed.
Like many other members of the Homalaspinae group of colubrids, tentacled
snakes are rear fanged and very mildly venomous. Their bite may subdue
small fishes, but is harmless to humans. There has been considerable
speculation about any possible function of the odd snout appendages,
ranging from prey detection to feelers. My conjecture is that they act as
flow detectors, helping the snakes account for water movement when lining
up a strike at prey.
