Abstract
The pelagic yellowâbellied sea snake Pelamis platurus is a surface feeder which apparently drifts passively with surface currents. In areas of horizontally convergent surface water flows, hundreds or even thousands of Pelamis are concentrated in slicks, apparently characteristic members of a community of organisms associated with slicks.The distribution of Pelamis in the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans is correlated with surface water temperatures; colonization of the Atlantic Ocean has likely been prevented by low surface temperatures off the tips of South Africa and South America. Breeding populations apparently occur only in areas in which mean monthly temperatures exceed 20C. The upper lethal temperature of Pelamis is about 33C. Thermoregulatory diving may be a mechanism of avoiding heat death in tropical seas where surface water temperatures reach 31C and insolation is intense.Pelamis can survive in freshwater for periods longer than 6 months.
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