<documentid="9E369590C19C089B342FA2BAEAED20F0"ID-CLB-Dataset="34241"ID-DOI="http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.622.9939"ID-GBIF-Dataset="c7d304e0-34b0-4cc5-8f1d-dd662c256812"ID-PMC="PMC5096412"ID-Pensoft-Pub="1313-2970-622-129"ID-PubMed="27843383"ID-ZooBank="371E464E6EF34E649D98ABC99ED71A52"ModsDocAuthor=""ModsDocDate="2016"ModsDocID="1313-2970-622-129"ModsDocOrigin="ZooKeys 622"ModsDocTitle="Sea snakes (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) in their westernmost extent: an updated and illustrated checklist and key to the species in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman"checkinTime="1475802458888"checkinUser="pensoft"docAuthor="Rezaie-Atagholipour, Mohsen, Ghezellou, Parviz, Hesni, Majid Askari, Dakhteh, Seyyed Mohammad Hashem, Ahmadian, Hooman & Vidal, Nicolas"docDate="2016"docId="E4BE23BA6D80D1C8529B55F35142281E"docLanguage="en"docName="ZooKeys 622: 129-164"docOrigin="ZooKeys 622"docSource="http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.622.9939"docTitle="Hydrophis schistosus Daudin 1803"docType="treatment"docVersion="7"lastPageNumber="135"masterDocId="FFD0FFD9290E46381139A82BFFA1A336"masterDocTitle="Sea snakes (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) in their westernmost extent: an updated and illustrated checklist and key to the species in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman"masterLastPageNumber="164"masterPageNumber="129"pageNumber="134"updateTime="1732670828758"updateUser="ExternalLinkService">
<mods:titleid="E6F0B12E0CBF7963CD884850ED3749AD">Sea snakes (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) in their westernmost extent: an updated and illustrated checklist and key to the species in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman</mods:title>
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Head of medium size; rostral beaked-shaped, elongate with decurved and pointed tip (Figures 2a, 3a); mental elongate, slender and dagger-shaped, hidden in the groove between chin shields (Figures 3a, 6c); body slightly elongate, not markedly slender anteriorly (Figure 6
<bibRefCitationid="F4B8DE61A40463FF2A566297AB62F282"author="Volsoe, H"editor="Jessen, K"journalOrPublisher="Copenhagen"pageId="30"pageNumber="159"pagination="9 - 45"title="The sea snakes of the Iranian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, with a summary of the biology of the sea snakes."volumeTitle="Danish Scientific Investigations in Iran"year="1939">
)], small and more or less indistinguishable from adjacent scales at mid-body (Figure 4e); 40-55 scale rows on neck and 53-65 on body [47-52 and 56-60 (
<bibRefCitationid="CF02190DDF010E305E99B7144D36F170"author="Volsoe, H"editor="Jessen, K"journalOrPublisher="Copenhagen"pageId="30"pageNumber="159"pagination="9 - 45"title="The sea snakes of the Iranian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, with a summary of the biology of the sea snakes."volumeTitle="Danish Scientific Investigations in Iran"year="1939">
<paragraphid="8414737E316E2BE1427CC516C7440DDE"pageId="6"pageNumber="135">Gray or dark olive dorsally, whitish ventrally; body rings developed in juveniles but paler or absent in adults (Figure 6e); exceptionally black dorsally (Figure 6f).</paragraph>
Mean TL 1036 mm, maximum 1230 mm (n = 14) [n = 3, maximum TL 1350 mm (
<bibRefCitationid="8AB8E904612F7976C881F085A6C8329F"author="Volsoe, H"editor="Jessen, K"journalOrPublisher="Copenhagen"pageId="30"pageNumber="159"pagination="9 - 45"title="The sea snakes of the Iranian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, with a summary of the biology of the sea snakes."volumeTitle="Danish Scientific Investigations in Iran"year="1939">
Indo- West Pacific, from the Persian Gulf to Australia (
<bibRefCitationid="D1870E33A1A0CFFC86AFA345B18A8B19"author="David, P"journalOrPublisher="Dumerilia"pageId="26"pageNumber="155"pagination="3 - 499"title="Les serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition."volume="3"year="1999">David and Ineich 1999</bibRefCitation>
).
</paragraph>
</subSubSection>
<subSubSectionid="4EC076DF0C45685E58DA147C842A033A"pageId="6"pageNumber="135"type="iucn red list category">
<paragraphid="8A28FCCE2E0BEB2BAA8A54F10B573EE7"pageId="6"pageNumber="135">IUCN Red List Category.</paragraph>
<bibRefCitationid="C45C63E3AE32ADBAFF32C0A4AAD01F90"author="Hecht, MK"journalOrPublisher="Herpetologica"pageId="27"pageNumber="156"title="Red List of Threatened Species version 2016 - 1"url="http://www.iucnredlist.org"year="2016">IUCN 2016</bibRefCitation>
is distinct from other species in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman due to its beaked-shaped rostral and dagger-shaped mental. Results of our field surveys showed that the species is more abundant in the Gulf of Oman rather than in the Persian Gulf. This is supported by other studies as eight specimens have been hitherto examined from the Gulf of Oman (
<bibRefCitationid="49A049DA1DDD92D29F96B1DD72100BAC"author="Boulenger, GA"journalOrPublisher="Annals and Magazine of Natural History"pageId="26"pageNumber="155"pagination="407 - 408"title="A list of the reptiles and batrachians obtained near Muscat, Arabia, and presented to the British Museum by Surgeon-Major ASG Jayakar."url="10.1080/00222938709460086"volume="5"year="1887">Boulenger 1887</bibRefCitation>
,
<bibRefCitationid="A34C00F44D63698D883B5711E4F1155D"author="Boulenger, GA"journalOrPublisher="London"pageId="26"pageNumber="155"title="Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History)"year="1896">1896</bibRefCitation>
;
<bibRefCitationid="D4A20EFE1A0672C139B2B9551CCBEDD4"author="Smith, MA"journalOrPublisher="Printed by order of the Trustees of the British museum (Natural History), London"pageId="29"pageNumber="158"title="Monograph of the Sea Snakes (Hydrophiidae)."year="1926">Smith 1926</bibRefCitation>
;
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<bibRefCitationid="BCA5283EE6D37E4FCFBCFB8718B2F5F8"author="Corkill, NL"journalOrPublisher="The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society"pageId="26"pageNumber="155"pagination="552 - 572"title="Snakes of Iraq."volume="35"year="1932">Corkill 1932</bibRefCitation>
;
<bibRefCitationid="76A2E694308D31833F2B9D14B90AB2D7"author="Smith, MA"journalOrPublisher="Printed by order of the Trustees of the British museum (Natural History), London"pageId="29"pageNumber="158"title="Monograph of the Sea Snakes (Hydrophiidae)."year="1926">Smith 1926</bibRefCitation>
; present study). Furthermore, during two months boat surveys in Hara (mangrove) Biosphere Reserve in the eastern Persian Gulf, only two specimens of the species were found (
<bibRefCitationid="0A0BB32752254BF6EEDCAAAC3A5F7DEB"author="Rezaie-Atagholipour, M"journalOrPublisher="Zoology in the Middle East"pageId="28"pageNumber="157"pagination="53 - 60"title="Status of the annulated sea snake, Hydrophiscyanocinctus, in the Hara Protected Area of Persian Gulf."url="10.1080/09397140.2012.10648963"volume="57"year="2012">Rezaie-Atagholipour et al. 2012</bibRefCitation>
). Nonetheless, two specimens collected by
<bibRefCitationid="9B89FA5C18FD543A4FD271D45997E87E"author="Rezaie-Atagholipour, M"journalOrPublisher="Zoology in the Middle East"pageId="28"pageNumber="157"pagination="53 - 60"title="Status of the annulated sea snake, Hydrophiscyanocinctus, in the Hara Protected Area of Persian Gulf."url="10.1080/09397140.2012.10648963"volume="57"year="2012">Rezaie-Atagholipour et al. (2012)</bibRefCitation>
and the only specimen collected in this study were from Strait of Hormoz in the boundary of the two gulfs. Therefore these three specimens may be vagrant, and can not be strictly allocated to a particular population in the Persian Gulf. Concerning the two remaining specimens reported from the Gulf by
<bibRefCitationid="4EA3D8F87667A95F40734C60042A1711"author="Corkill, NL"journalOrPublisher="The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society"pageId="26"pageNumber="155"pagination="552 - 572"title="Snakes of Iraq."volume="35"year="1932">Corkill (1932)</bibRefCitation>
and
<bibRefCitationid="8AF6A3B42F6FE6F213C32220A0A26715"author="Smith, MA"journalOrPublisher="Printed by order of the Trustees of the British museum (Natural History), London"pageId="29"pageNumber="158"title="Monograph of the Sea Snakes (Hydrophiidae)."year="1926">Smith (1926)</bibRefCitation>
, no exact locality was mentioned. In conclusion, populations of
in the Persian Gulf seem likely to be in low abundance. On the other hand, results of this study showed that the species is one of the most abundant sea snakes in the Gulf of Oman. In total,
, all but one collected from the Gulf of Oman. Approximately 71% (261 of 367 specimens) of sea snakes that
<bibRefCitationid="82DF43D396570361E48176D9D12B85BC"author="Safaei, M"journalOrPublisher="Quarterly of Marine Research"pageId="29"pageNumber="158"pagination="37 - 49"title="Identification and distribution of sea snakes (Serpents: Hydrophiidae) in the coastal waters of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman."volume="1"year="2009">Safaei and Esmaili (2009)</bibRefCitation>
collected from coastal waters of Hormozgan Province (eastern Persian Gulf and western Gulf of Oman) were
. They mentioned that most of these specimens were collected from Gulf of Oman. They failed however to report the exact proportions. Mating behavior of the species was sighted during a boat survey through coastal waters of Jask (western Gulf of Oman) in December 2013, the two animals having been seen intertwined and floating on the surface (Figure 7).
is an aggressive sea snake. This snake is prey-specific, mostly consuming spiny catfishes (
<bibRefCitationid="F702AD34BFC9FC4B10C0590421B0DB68"author="Glodek, GS"journalOrPublisher="Copeia"pageId="27"pageNumber="156"pagination="661 - 666"title="Marine snake diets: prey composition, diversity and overlap."url="10.2307/1444667"volume="1982"year="1982">Glodek and Voris 1982</bibRefCitation>
;
<bibRefCitationid="9E9D9537FD7167C537C238F9F9AC2848"author="Voris, HK"journalOrPublisher="Biotropica"pageId="30"pageNumber="159"pagination="15 - 19"title="Size and proportion relationship between the Beaked Sea Snake and its prey."url="10.2307/2387866"volume="13"year="1981">Voris and Moffett 1981</bibRefCitation>
morphological and molecular evidence revealed that this species consists of two convergent lineages through its geographical distribution range. Now, the Australian lineage is elevated to species status and provisionally referred as to
<bibRefCitationid="41E55067B9179DB80E77109344569608"author="Ukuwela, KDB"journalOrPublisher="Molecular Phylogenetic and Evolution"pageId="30"pageNumber="159"pagination="262 - 269"title="Molecular evidence that the deadliest sea snake Enhydrinaschistosa (Elapidae: Hydrophiinae) consists of two convergent species."url="10.1016/j.ympev.2012.09.031"volume="66"year="2013">Ukuwela et al. 2013</bibRefCitation>
