Baby Sea Snake

Breeding of Baby Sea Snakes

 

During the summer, the sea snakes will give into the water to search for mate. The female will emit the chemical called pheromones to attract the males to mate with her.
The pheromones will attract multiple mates at one time. It is not known how the female choose its male since no competition is involved between the males to find the right to mate. While in the water, the male sea snake entwined around the female sea snake. The male sea snake has two penises named hemipenes. However, it can only mate with one penis at a time. The mating will occur several hours until the female decide to surface to the water to breathe in more oxygen. During mating, there is a possibility that the male will drown. If the male survives, it will go away but it will not raise the baby snakes after they are hatched.

 

Reproduction of Baby Sea Snakes

 

Sea snakes cannot reproduce if the temperature of the water is lesser than 18 Celsius. Thus, they breed during the summer. The sea snake species that live in the gulf can give birth 2 – 18 baby sea snakes. In Qatar, the sea snakes can be observed swimming in the coastal water south of Dukhan. Most of the sea snakes will reproduce once each year. The timing of the reproduction depends on the geographical location. The young baby sea snakes that are born underwater must quickly swim up to the surface of the water to breathe otherwise it will die.

Gestation Period of Baby Sea Snakes

 

The gestation period of the sea snake is longer than the terrestrial species. Depending on the species, the gestation period can range from four to eleven months. Majority of the sea snakes give birth to its young with fully formed body while others have to come up to the shores to lay eggs. The five major species of the sea snakes in the family of hydrophiidar give birth to live young so they don’t have to return to land to breed. The acrochroridae consist of 3 species. Two of the species including acrochordus granulates and a. arafurae are viviparous and give birth to their live young in the fresh water and sea. The banded snakes is an oviparous species which give birth by laying eggs. The eggs will need to be warmed in the sun before it can hatch into baby snakes. The female will not take care of the baby snakes. After the eggs are hatched, the baby snakes will be responsible of taking care themselves. The baby sea snakes have the ability to swim so that they can find food for themselves.

 

Age and Growth of Baby Sea Snakes

 

Most of the sea snakes that live in the shark bay cannot grow beyond the length of 2 m. However, some species including the yellow sea snake, and blue banded sea snake can grow to approximately 3m. Baby sea snake species that are born 25 cm in length must grow to a length of 100 cm before it will become sexually mature. The sea snake will take 2 – 3 years to mature. Sea snakes have short life span. Despite that, some species that survive in the Great Barrier Reef can live for as long as fifteen years.