water snakes dangerous or not?

We got into this very topic a few years back and some of the DR1 "experts" claimed there are no sea snakes in the DR. I completely disagreed as I too have seen several in the Las Galeras area. These were not land-based snakes simply taking a dip nor eels with gills, but were the real thing. As I said, I was all but hooted off the board. How toxic they are I don't know, but most saltwater sea snakes are venemous.

According to other Experts and Doctors

Sea snakes are usually 3-4 feet long with flat tails, valvelike nostril flaps, and scales. They live in the tropical and warm regions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Sea snakes are not found in the Atlantic Ocean, along the North American coast, or in the Caribbean Sea. Sea snakes are usually not aggressive unless provoked. Most bites do not cause significant poisonings. However, some types of sea snake venom can cause neurologic symptoms and clotting disorders (coagulopathy).

First, sea snakes are very shy and avoid contact with people. Eeven if they inflict a bite, they will usually use a small amount of venom. In fact, it is used for immobilizing prey and not for defense. Sea snakes are generally very small and have short fangs incapable of causing much damage. However, to think that a bite is a minor accident is a great misconception. Even the short fangs (2.5?4.5 mm) can penetrate the skin so the poison will enter the blood. It is said that sea snakes can open their mouths wide enough to bite a man on the thigh. If provoked, the sea snake may become very aggressive and persistent, especially during the mating season in the winter.

They are close relatives to the cobra and are totally adapted to marine life: they have modified lungs to help them maintain buoyancy and to remain underwater for a long time. Sea snakes have specialized flattened tails for swimming and special glands for disposing of excess salt. As they need to breathe air, they usually inhabit shallow water feeding on fish, fish eggs and eels. Most sea snakes live along the coasts and in the estuaries of Australia and Asia. The pelagic sea snake Pelamis platurus has the greatest range?it can be found from the Pacific to Madagascar and the New World. It is occasionally washed up on beaches after storms and may be dangerous to little children. The sea kraits differ from the sea snakes in that they are egg-layers and must come on shore for reproduction.

The bite of the sea snake is painless. However, half an hour later the following symptoms appear: stiffness, muscle aches and spasm of the jaw, pain in the bitten limb. The powerful neurotoxins contained in the venom cause blurred vision, drowsiness and respiratory paralysis.

The bite is treated with sea snake antivenin. If it is not available, tiger snake antivenin or even polyvalent antivenin may help.

jrzyguy said:

To be on the safe side i think i am going to get some scuba shoes (i did gash my foot on the coral on my first swim this year).

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Don't you wear fins?

The "snake" you saw was a moray eel. They do bite, and the broken-off teeth can cause infection. The big ones range up to 6ft in length and can be agressive. Moray eels here ALWAYS carry ciguatera nerve poison and should NEVER be eaten. If speared they will resist very violently. Never put your hands into any holes in coral, as this is where they live. I have personally seen several very large ones, but unless you upset them they will not bother you, just don't eat one! Canadian Bob.

I may represent the minority on this but...

I generally feel it is a bad idea to get bitten by anything in or out of the water. So for me whether there are sea snakes or not is moot. Just don't let stuff bite you and you should have no problems.:cheeky:

las aparencias enga?an

Moray eels


Most species lack pectoral and pelvic fins, adding to their snake-like appearance

jrzyguy said:

Nonetheless....i think i am going to invest in some sort of footware protection on my next trip

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Heavens - I hope you're not planning to step on any coral. And there are seasnakes that are quite venomous but that are not moray eels. I've watched a whole colony of them while snorkling in the British Virgins. They are quite beautiful creatures under the water. Don't mess with them and they won't mess with you. It is a good idea not to mess with anything and not to touch or step on anything, or kick it, or brush it with your fins. Reefs and reef life is for looking at only - not for touching. You touch, you kill!

jrzyguy I'm assuming you'd never intentionally step on coral. However if you accidentally brush up against it and cut yourself you may end up with an extremely septic infection. Get a hold of some Betadine solution it's the stuff they prep your skin with before surgery. It's a 10% povidone-iodine topical solution and it works very well.

I would be more concerned over the poisonous trouser snake's in Boca Chica than those in the water!

You know the whole point is, is that knowbody should be stepping on or touching a reef or for that matter wearing tanning oil in the water around a reef. Get informed about how to best treat your reef enviorment.

Tamborista said:

I would be more concerned over the poisonous trouser snake's in Boca Chica than those in the water!

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Sounds like jrzyguy is well informed about poisonous trouser snakes...hahaha.

jrzyguy, please tell me you're kidding. If you walk on, or touch or kick or whatever coral, you've most probably killed some of the coral right there. Coral is a living organism. Oh man... the reefs need protection from you I think, not you from the reefs.. :ermm: Anyway, go the the green team blog - the first three blogs on coral and reefs may just be an an eye opener for you ..

jrzyguy said:

well..damn..quite an education. YEs..i have been walking on the coral for years. What is interesting..is that i used to have bad foot fungi..and the coral cleared all that up.

I generaly dont wear fins...have them..just dont like them. I did see some "suba slippers" tho that look that would protect me.

I am totaly not a chicken...i have seen baracuda and octapus...but dang...i am definitely going take more precaution whilst swimming around the reefs!!

Luckily...gray short...i had a supply of bacetracian when i went down..and when i gashed my foot on my first swim i took extra care of the foot and it has heeled just fine. not even a scar!!!

I just dont get it tho...i see pleanty of people out on the isla with no foot protetioin.

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http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/support/lib/seas/seasQA/QAs/s/seasnakes.html

see all the questions and answers particularly #11

"Since there are no sea snakes in the Atlantic Ocean, the creature you saw was probably not the kind referred to in the Sea Frontiers article. True sea snakes are usually striped or banded, often with black, yellow or whitish markings and they have a flattened, paddle-like tail that aids them in swimming. The head of the sea snake is usually rather slender and not conspicuously distinct from the rest of the body. The animal you saw was probably a snake-eel which is a fish. Often these eels are conspicuously colored and are confused with snakes by divers. They may coil in a snake-like attitude and their gill chambers when expanded may cause the head to appear quite broad and snake-like. There are a number of species of snake-eels in the West Indies, although ichthyologists do not know of a species with a yellow head."

I think what we saw then are snake eels. This is what they look like - close enough to snakes to give me the heebie jeebies http://www.reefimages.com/Eels/Eels3.htm

wow, I had no idea that there were sea snakes here. I knew there were sea snakes in Cuba as my sister has been bitten before (she still has the scar today!). I was afraid that I might figure this out one day about the Dominican Republic. Snakes scare the living daylights out of me you see, this is the reason for my concern. While I was in Punta Cana a few months back, I thought I saw some sort of snake skin or other but I wasnt sure (I saw this at the end of Bavaro beach, past the barcelo bavaro hotels and near dolphin island--there is a secluded stretch of beach) One question I have and hopefully someone can answer this. I am a frequent traveler to Punta Cana, and I want to know if I have to worry about sea snakes while just swimming infront of the resort I am staying at, or should I only worry about this if I am going snorkeling out by the coral reef?
thanks in advance.

Hlywud said:

http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/support/lib/seas/seasQA/QAs/s/seasnakes.html

see all the questions and answers particularly #11

"Since there are no sea snakes in the Atlantic Ocean, "

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Do a google on sea snakes and get the facts!