Hydrophis ornatus

The Latin name of the pale gray sea snake Hydrophis ornatus is a reptile of the genus Hydrophis in the family Elapidae.

The pale gray sea snake lives in the ocean. It eats eels and also eats dead fish when it is raised. It is ovoviviparous.

Listed in the second level of the "List of National Key Protected Wildlife in China".

Protect wild animals and eliminate game.

Maintaining ecological balance is everyone's responsibility!

In China, it is distributed along the coasts of Shandong, Taiwan, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Hainan and Guangxi.

The total length is about 1 meter. The head is large, the snout is blunt and round, the nostrils are dorsal, and the body is very laterally flattened. There are 7 (2-2-3) scales on the upper lip, no cheek scales; 1 preorbital scale, 2 postorbital scales; 2+3 temporal scales. There are 33-41 rows of dorsal scales in the neck, 40-49 rows in the thickest part of the body, which are hexagonal, slightly imbricate or inlaid, with a central tubercle or short ridge; there are 231-299 ventral scales, which are wider in the front, twice as long as the adjacent dorsal scales, and narrower in the back; the preanal scales are slightly larger. The dorsal part of the head is black, olive or gray, the dorsal part of the body and tail is light gray or olive, with 51-59+9-11 black or dark wide ring spots, which do not reach the center of the abdomen; the abdomen is light yellow or white.