Abstract
The Persian Gulf is known as the westernmost distribution limit for sea snakes, except for Hydrophis platurus (Linnaeus, 1766) that reaches southeastern Africa. Previous identification guides for sea snakes of the Persian Gulf and its adjacent waters in the Gulf of Oman were based on old data and confined mostly to written descriptions. Therefore, a series of field surveys were carried out in 2013 and 2014 through Iranian coastal waters of both gulfs to provide a comprehensive sampling of sea snakes in the area. This paper presents an illustrated and updated checklist and identification tool for sea snakes in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, which are based on new material and a review of the literature. This checklist includes ten species of marine hydrophiines, of which one, Microcephalophis cantoris (Günther, 1864), is a new record for the area. All specimens examined herein are deposited and available at the Zoological Museum of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman province, Iran.
Highlights
All true sea snakes of the subfamily Hydrophiinae share a common ancestor dating back to approximately six million years ago, the majority of the extant lineages have diversified in the last three and half million years (Sanders et al 2013)
This paper aims at presenting an illustrated and up to date checklist for sea snakes in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, as well as easy to use identification keys to the genera and species recorded in both gulfs
The sea snakes examined were collected from the Iranian coastal waters of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman (Figure 1)
Summary
All true sea snakes of the subfamily Hydrophiinae share a common ancestor dating back to approximately six million years ago, the majority of the extant lineages have diversified in the last three and half million years (Sanders et al 2013). More than 60 morphologically and ecologically diverse species of highly venomous marine hydrophiines live throughout tropical and subtropical coastal waters of the Indo-West Pacific region (Rasmussen et al 2011b), with an exception, the Yellowbellied Sea Snake, Hydrophis platurus (Linnaeus, 1766), that lives in both Indian and Pacific Oceans (Heatwole 1999). These sea snakes colonize various coastal habitats throughout their geographic range and play an important role in the food web of these coastal biomes by consuming various prey (Voris 1972). Sea surface temperature in the Gulf varies from 18 to 34°C throughout the year and salinity is more than 39 ppt in most areas (Sheppard et al 2010)
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