*Sea snakes can go for more than half a year without water* A team of biologists from America, France and Australia has discovered that the yellow-bellied sea snake (Hydrophis platurus) is capable of surviving without water for seven months. Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the team details how they captured and performed tests on more than 500 of the snakes in order determine how they survived for so long at sea without access to fresh water. Spending the majority of its life at sea, the yellow-bellied snake relies on acquiring most of its food and water from the ocean. However, drinking sea water isnt an option as the volume of salt is too great for the snakes salt glands (located on the tongue, primarily used for removing salt from food) to efficiently excrete. Read more: wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/20/sea-snake-over-half-year-without-water
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 10:07:51 +0000
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