sea snake – Mermaid Scientist

S is for Sea Snake Secret

Scientific name: Laticauda colubrina

Common Name: Banded Sea Krait

Tagalog: Walo Walo

I am shy, slender and graceful.

I swim gently along the sunny reef looking for tiny fish to eat.

I float on the surface to fill my lungs

I float to warm up in the sun.

Once in a blue moon I go ashore, to a sea cave hidden from the world.

There is a dry sandy beach where my secret is safe.

The secret is my dear little sea snake babies.

The sea cave is where my babies are born from their eggs.

Being born in a safe cave will protect them from hungry sea monsters.

The Baby Brown Banded Bamboo Shark likes stripes.

Stripes, like those of the poisonous sea snake, fool potential predators (the dumb ones) and protect this baby from being eaten.

When the Brown Banded Bamboo Shark grows out of his juvenile stripes, he becomes a mature brown.

Unfortunately, most humans are not fooled by the stripes and these little guys are commonly eaten in the islands of The Coral Triangle.

Boding = Tagbanua/Tagalog name for Shark