Hydrophis belcheri

Common card · No. 429007

Hydrophis belcheri, commonly known as the faint-banded sea snake or Belcher's sea snake, is an extremely venomous species of sea snake. It has a timid temperament and would normally have to be subjected to severe mistreatment before biting. Usually those bitten are fishermen handling nets, although only one-quarter of those bitten are envenomated since the snake rarely injects much of its venom. Although not much is known about the venom of this species, its LD50 toxicity in mice has been determined to be 0.24 mg/kg when delivered intramuscularly. Belcher's sea snake, which many times is mistakenly called the "hook-nosed sea snake" (Enhydrina schistosa), has been erroneously popularized as the most venomous snake in the world, due to Ernst and Zug's published book Snakes in Question: The Smithsonian Answer Book from 1996. Associate Professor Bryan Grieg Fry, a prominent venom expert, has clarified the error: "The hook nosed myth was due to a fundamental error in a book called 'Snakes...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Rasmussen AR, Murphy JC, Ompi M, Gibbons JW, Uetz P (2011), CC BY 2.5