Sea Snakes Oahu

[Blueringocto_73]

Too cool! Exactly how I remember them. Completely docile animals if unprovoked. But a likely fatal bite if it happens without immediate medical attention. That's why my heart was beating.

But on a scale of animals to worry about, probably about a 1 on a scale of 1 to ten. Thanks again

 

[Dan]

Nah! No worry about the sea snake. It has such small mouth, even your finger tip is way too big for it to bite on. It might be able to bite the webbing skin between your index finger & thumb, if you spread out your fingers, like when you give a stop signal to people. That's why my DM guide showed me how docile it is by letting it swam onto his hand in earlier picture. You also notice that he kept his fingers closed together to hide his webbing skin between his fingers.

If you want to know more about sea snake, here is a really cool video of sea snake of Manuk island by Jonathan Bird.

 

[scottitheduck]

I've been diving out here for 12 years now...... never heard of a Sea Snake in Hawaii. Several more seasoned critter geeks may be able to chime in on this like Keoki or Jeff. Hopefully they will see this thread.

 

[AquamanKauai]

Aloha,

I've come across this question several times over my years here in Hawaii. Most likely what you saw was in fact a snake eel called commonly a "saddled snake eel" (Leiuranus simicinctus). Though they are extremely rare I see one every 3-4 years here on Kauai.

Hope this helps.

Check out Keoki Stender's web site Marinelifephototgraphy.com

 

[Blueringocto_73]

Thank you, I'm still not sure what marine animal I saw. Most information I'm getting says it would have been an eel, but the Banded Sea Snake is the only one that looks and swims like what I saw.

Another diver I talked to says there are no fences to keep sea snakes from the Indo-Pacific out of Hawaiian waters. So maybe a rare sighting or it was something else.

It didn't move like the Harlequin Snake Eel.