Short-Nosed Sea Snakes Spotted After 15 Years

05 January 2016 - Posted by Ryan Murphy

Two short-nosed sea snakes have been spotted by a park ranger off of Western Australia in the waters of the Ningaloo Reef. The ranger who saw them took pictures of the pair of snakes and sent them off to scientists for further investigation.

In reaction to the sighting, scientist Blanche D’Anastasi said, “We were blown away; these potentially extinct snakes were there in plain sight, living on one of Australia’s natural icons, Ningaloo Reef”. D’Anastasi further stated that “What is even more exciting is that they were courting, suggesting that they are members of a breeding population.”

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), “this species has gone from being the third most commonly recorded sea snake in the 1990s to no individuals being recorded in intensive surveys since 2000, indicating a decline of at least 90 per cent in the past 15 years.”

This story brings up many questions about some of Earth’s elusive creatures. When can we confirm that an animal is in fact extinct? Especially, if that animal happens to be small and live in the oceans, it may be very hard to ever tell if they are gone forever.

These snakes prove that sometimes when you think all hope is lost, you should never give up hope.

We hope that this pair continues to prosper off the coast of Australia and that the number of short-nosed sea snakes will increase again!