Hydrophis belcheri: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the hydrophis belcheri lives – recorded in 1 country, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Hydrophis belcheri
Group	Snakes
Status	Data deficient (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	1 country
Continents	Oceania
Class	Reptile
Order	Squamata
Family	Elapidae

Where does the hydrophis belcheri live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the hydrophis belcheri in 1 country or territory across Oceania.

Australia

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the hydrophis belcheri endangered?

The hydrophis belcheri’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Data deficient” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the hydrophis belcheri?

The hydrophis belcheri (Hydrophis belcheri) is a reptile in the order Squamata and the family Elapidae, genus Hydrophis. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the hydrophis belcheri

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.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Hydrophis belcheri (revision 1376778761), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q1394421 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).