| Taxon ID: 31,064 Total records: 39,143 | ||||||||||||||
Hydrophis curtus
Country
| Country | Myanmar |
|---|---|
| Continent Ocean | Asia |
Classification
| Kingdom | Animalia (COL) |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Chordata (COL) |
| Class | Reptilia (COL) |
| Order | Squamata (COL) |
| Family | Elapidae (COL) |
Taxonomy
| Genus | Hydrophis | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SubGenus | Vernacular Name | ||
| Species | curtus | IUCN Threat Status-Year | Least Concern, 2010 |
| SubSpecies | Nat'l Threat Status-Year | Not Evaluated, 2000 | |
| Infraspecies | Reason for Change | ||
| Infraspecies Rank | CITES | ||
| Taxonomic Group | Reptiles | Native Status | Native |
| Scientific Name Author | (Shaw, 1802) | Country Distribution | Myanmar |
| Citation | Description | Geographic Range [top]
Range Description: This species has one of the most extensive distributions of all sea snake species (Minton 1975). It occurs form the Persian Gulf to eastern Australia and includes the entire Indian coastlines, Myanmar, Thailand (Tu 1974), South China Sea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and northern Australia (Minton 1975). One individual of this species has been reported from an unknown location in New Caledonia (Rasmussen and Ineich 2000), however, it is not clear whether there are breeding populations of L. curtus east of Australia.
Countries occurrence:
Native:
Australia; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Cambodia; China; India (Andaman Is., Nicobar Is.); Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Kuwait; Malaysia; Myanmar; Oman; Pakistan; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Thailand; United Arab Emirates; Viet Nam
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:
Native:
Indian Ocean – western; Indian Ocean – eastern; Pacific – northwest; Pacific – western central
Additional data:
? Lower depth limit (metres): 55
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
Population [top]
Population: This species is one of the most common inter-reefal species throughout its range. Although there are no abundance estimates from direct surveys of this species, considerable information exists from trawl by-catch data from Australia and some parts of Southeast Asia since the 1960s. These data suggest that, in many areas, this is the by far the most commonly captured sea snake species.
The most detailed spatial and temporal information is available for Australia. L. curtus comprised 19% of bycatch in the Arafura Sea and Gulf of Carpentaria in the late 1960s (Shuntov 1972) and 12% in the Gulf of Carpentaria in the early 1970s (Heatwole 1975). In the late 1970s L. curtus comprised ~60% of sea snakes caught in the eastern Gulf of Carpentaria (Redfield et al. 1978). Other trawl bycatch studies in northern Australia have documented L. curtus as comprising between 13 – 80% of bycatch (Fry et al. 2001); <13% of bycatch (Ward 1996a, b; Ward 2000); and ~30% (Milton et al. 2008). This species comprised ~25% of sea snake bycatch in the Queensland East Coast Trawl Fishery, however, its percent contribution varied between different sectors and fisheries (Courtney et al. 2010).
This species appears to be the most abundant sea snake species in the Gulf of Thailand. An extensive study in the Gulf of Thailand in the late 1960s indicated that it comprised over 80% of all sea snakes captured in trawls (4,305 in a total of 5311 individuals) (Tu 1974), and this species was captured on every day of the surveys.
L. curtus is probably also the most common species in several parts of coastal India (A. Lobo pers. comm. 2009). A total of 194 trawl pulls along the coast of Goa, India resulted in the capture of approximately 165 individuals in 2002 and 2003 (Lobo et al. 2005).
Current Population Trend: Unknown
Additional data:
? Population severely fragmented: No
Habitat and Ecology [top]
Habitat and Ecology: L. curtus occurs in a wide range of tropical shallow-water habitats including gulfs, bays, and estuaries, over continental shelves and also over soft-sediments adjacent to coral reefs. It is associated with many soft-sediment types including sand, muddy sand, and mud (Heatwole 1975, Dunson 1975). It sometimes ascends river, thus also occurs in freshwater habitats (Heatwole 1975, Dunson 1975). L. curtus is a generalist feeder and its diet includes many species of benthic, demersal and pelagic fish, as well as squid and other crustaceans (Glodek and Voris 1982, Fry et al. 2001, Lobo et al. 2005). This species typically occurs in depth ranges from 4 to 40 m (Redfield et al. 1978) but has been seen as deep as 55 m (Dunson 1975). Gravid females appear to congregate in sheltered areas such as bays and estuary mouths at particular times of the year (A. Lobo pers. comm. 2009).
This species has considerably capacity to disperse because of its great variety of optimal habitat types and prey items. Population genetic data indicates that L. curtus has undergone recent range expansion throughout shallow water habitats around northern and eastern Australia, probably since the last glacial maximum 15,000 years ago (V. Lukoschek unpublished data). However, genetic data also indicate that deeper water appears to act as a barrier to dispersal for this species (Lukoschek et al. 2007, 2008). For example, there is a strong genetic break between L. curtus populations in the west and east coasts of Thailand and between the Thailand populations and Australia (~1% mitochondrial sequence divergence, V. Lukoschek unpublished data).
Systems: Freshwater; Marine
Congregatory: Congregatory (and dispersive)
Use and Trade [top]
Use and Trade: This species is collected for a variety of purposes including human and animal food, for medicinal purposes and for their skin.
Threats [top]
Major Threat(s): There are two major threats to L. curtus: fisheries bycatch and directed harvests.
This species occurs primarily in shallow-water coastal soft-sediment habitats, which are targeted by prawn trawl fisheries throughout its range. L. curtus tends to be one of the most commonly caught species in these trawl fisheries. Indeed, this species is often caught in huge numbers and can make up a large component of all sea snake bycatch in many locations (see Population information). There is some anecdotal evidence from Asia of declines in the population. They are now caught much less frequently in trawls than in the past. In 1989 in Phuket, Thailand 50-300 individuals were captured in trawls, and in 2004 there were much fewer (A. Rasmussen pers. comm. 2009).
In the Queensland trawl fishery (Australia), L. curtus made up a high proportion (24%) of the incidental capture of sea snakes and the mortality rate was 5.8% (which is comparatively low) (Courtney et al. 2010). It is the most commonly caught sea snake in these fisheries. According to Courtney et al. (2010), the risk of overfishing of sea snakes in the Queensland trawl fisheries to the point of recruitment failure resulting in populations experiencing significant decline, appears low.
The generally high spatial and temporal variability in the abundance and species composition of sea snakes in trawl bycatch in Australia, combined with the changing fishing practices over the past 20 years, make it very difficult to detect trends in catch rate that could be reliably inferred as indicating that populations are stable or declining. As such, trawl bycatch data only provide an indirect measure of the status of Australian populations. This is probably also true for trawl bycatch data in other locations.
The other potential threat, directed harvest, is known to occur in some parts of Southeast Asia. This species is one of the most frequently commercially used sea snakes in Thailand (Rasmussen 2001). Large numbers of sea snake skins (>6,500 individuals), likely of L. curtus, have been seized in Malaysia near the border of Thailand. Leather from this species can also be found marketed online by companies in Asia. Harvests of more than 100 L. curtus individuals were also observed in east Peninsular Malaysia in 2008 (M. Auliya pers. comm. 2009). The species was harvested in Indonesia prior to the 1980s, however, there are no reports of harvests on a commercial scale since then (G. Saputra pers. comm. 2009).
Conservation Actions [top]
Conservation Actions: There are no species-specific conservation measures for this species, but it may occur in marine protected areas. No sea snake species is currently listed by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
Sea snakes are protected in Australia since their addition to the ‘Listed Marine Species’ by the Department of Environment and Water Resources in 2000. They are protected in Australia under the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act 1999. This requires that all Australian industries interacting with protected species, directly or indirectly, demonstrate sustainability for the species impacted by their activities (Milton et al. 2008). In addition, the Fisheries Management Act 1991 requires fishing efforts to avoid captures of threatened and protected species such as sea snakes.
The Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF) in Australia has the largest impact on sea snake populations of any Commonwealth-managed fishery. The EPBC Act and the NPF’s commitments under its Strategic Assessment by the Department of the Environment and Water Resources, led to the commencement of a three year study on developing and implementing a long-term bycatch monitoring program for Australia’s NPF; ‘Design, trial and implementation of an integrated, long-term bycatch monitoring program, road tested in the Northern Prawn Fishery’ FRDC PN 2002/035 (Brewer et al. 2007 as cited by Milton et al. 2008). In addition, the NPF is required to demonstrate that its activities do not adversely impact sea snake species. Since 2003, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) have jointly run industry workshops to train crew-member observers in the identification, photography and recording of information on sea snakes caught in the NPF tiger and banana prawn seasons.
Commercial trials of different Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs) used in Australia’s trawl fisheries showed that two devices (Fisheye and Popeye Fishbox BRDs) can reduce sea snake catch by between 40 and 85% (without significant prawn loss) when set closer to the cod end than the minimum legally required distance, but <10% of fishers have responded to these findings by moving their Bycatch Reduction Devices closer to the cod end (Milton et al. 2008). Recommendation would be to reduce the number of individuals taken as bycatch in the prawn trawl fishery using appropriate exclusion devices and placement within nets (T. Courtney and Emma Fletcher pers. comms. 2009).
There are no documented bycatch management strategies for Lapemis curtus in other parts of its range, however, trawl fishing closures in India may prove effective for reducing the impacts of incidental capture for this and other sea snake species (Lobo et al. 2005), even though these closures were not specifically implemented for sea snake management. Similar fisheries closures in other countries where this species occurs may also reduce the impacts of incidental takes, however, considerable research is needed to quantify sea snake bycatch throughout Southeast Asia and evaluate the effects of any current management strategies on sea snake populations.
Gravid females of this species appear to congregate in sheltered areas such as bays and estuary mouths at particular times of the year. Some of the areas should be identified as important zones for conservation especially during breeding periods (A. Lobo pers. comm. 2009).
Citation: Lukoschek, V., Guinea, M., Cogger, H., Rasmussen, A., Murphy, J., Lane, A., Sanders, K. Lobo, A., Gatus, J., Limpus, C., Milton, D., Courtney, T., Read, M., Fletcher, E., Marsh, D., White, M.-D., Heatwole, H., Alcala, A., Voris, H. & Karns, D. 2010. Lapemis curtus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T176746A7296038. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T176746A7296038.en. Downloaded on 28 July 2016.
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| Individual Count | 0 | GML Features | |
| Observerd Individual Count | 0 | Notes |
Collecting Event
Images
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Additional Info
Synonyms To Manage Synonyms for Hydrophis curtus, click this link: Synonyms. |
Enhydris curtus Werner, 1895 ¦ Hydrophis abbreviatus Jan, 1863 ¦ Hydrophis brevis Jan, 1863 ¦ Hydrophis fayreriana Anderson, 1871 ¦ Hydrophis hardwickei Boettger, 1888 ¦ Hydrophis pelamidoides Fischer, 1855 ¦ Hydrophis pelamidoides Fischer, 1856 ¦ Hydrophis pelamidoides Schlegel, 1837 ¦ Hydrophis pelamoides Hilgendorf, 1876 ¦ Hydrophis propinquus Jan, 1859 ¦ Hydrus curtus Shaw, 1802 ¦ Lapemis curtus Gray, 1842 ¦ Lapemis loreatus Gray, 1843 ¦ |
Common Names To Manage Common Names for Hydrophis curtus, click this link: Common Names. |
Short Sea Snake () ¦ Shaws Sea Snake () ¦ |
Localities To Manage Localities for Hydrophis curtus, click this link: Localities. |
Species Record Updated By:
Carlos Aurelio Callangan
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