Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803

Rezaie-Atagholipour, Mohsen, Ghezellou, Parviz, Hesni, Majid Askari, Dakhteh, Seyyed Mohammad Hashem, Ahmadian, Hooman & Vidal, Nicolas, 2016, 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, ZooKeys 622, pp. 129-164 : 146

Taxon classification Animalia Squamata Elapidae

Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803 Figures 3g, 18, 19, 20

Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803: 383.

Hydrophis cyanocinctus - Smith 1926: 56. - Schmidt 1939: 87. - Volsøe 1939: 17. -Laurent 1948: 9. - Haas 1957: 87. - Haas 1961: 21. - Corkill and Cochrane 1965: 494. - Leviton and Anderson 1967: 188. - Gallagher 1971: 31. - Eissa and El-Assy 1975: 129. - Joger 1984: 33. - Leviton and Aldrich 1984: XXIV. - Gasperetti 1988: 310. - Leviton et al. 1992: 121. - Carpenter et al. 1997: 246. - Firouz 1999: 192. - Latifi 2000: 338. - Baldwin and Gardner 2005: 248. - Firouz 2005: 209. - Egan 2007: 145. - Rastegar-Pouyani et al. 2008: 20. - Safaei and Esmaili 2009: 45. - Soorae et al. 2010: 535. - Calvete et al. 2012: 4091. - Rezaie-Atagholipour et al. 2012: 53. - Rezaie-Atagholipour et al. 2012 b: 416. - Kamali 2013: 238. Rezaie-Atagholipour et al. 2013: 328. - Safaei-Mahroo et al. 2015: 282. - Sereshk and Bakhtiari 2015: 15781. - Khorjestan et al. 2016: 45.

Hydrophis cyanocincta - Boulenger 1887: 408.

Distira cyanocincta - Werner 1895: 19. - Boulenger 1896: 294.

Material examined.

Persian Gulf: 1 specimen, Bushehr Province [(ZMSBUK.HD.9), TL 1185, SVL 1075, HL 23.9, HW 12.5, GL 13.4, SNL 4, NEL 3.6, ND 44, GBD 67, NSL 8, NSR 28, BSR 41, NV 359, NB 54], September 2013, collector: M. Rezaie-Atagholipour.

Gulf of Oman: 3 specimens, Beris and Pasa-Bandar, depth 20-40m [(ZMSBUK.HD.4), TL 1275, SVL 1160, HL 25.3, HW 10.7, GL 13.3, SNL 5, NEL 4.4, ND 38, GBD 82, NSL 8, NSR 29, BSR 39, NV 332, NB 56; (ZMSBUK.HD.6), TL 1447, SVL 1332, HL 27.3, HW 16.8, GL 17.9, SNL 4.6, NEL 3.2, ND 24, GBD 105, NSL 8, NSR 29, BSR 40, NV 339, NB 53; (ZMSBUK.HD.56), TL 1065, SVL 463, HL 14.8, HW 10.5, GL 13.9, SNL 3.7, NEL 2.5, ND 38, GBD 67, NSL 8, NSR 25, BSR 39, NV 300, NB 51], August 2013, collector: M. Rezaie-Atagholipour.

Diagnosis.

Head slightly small (Figure 19); 7-8 supralabials, second in contact with prefrontal (Figure 18), third, fourth and fifth [or third and fourth, or fourth and fifth ( Gasperetti 1988)] touch eye; body elongate but not markedly slender anteriorly (Figure 19d); 300-359 ventrals [345-372 ( Volsøe 1939)], slightly distinguishable from adjacent scales at mid-body; body scales on thickest part of the body with round or bluntly pointed tips, slightly or distinctly imbricate; 25-31 scale rows on neck, 39-41 on body [28-31 and 38-44 ( Volsøe 1939)].

Coloration.

Body dark olive, grayish, or dirty white, dorsally darker and ventrally paler; 51-56 [44-54 ( Volsøe 1939)] black rings broader dorsally, or broader bands tapering to points on laterals, on body and tail (Figure 19d); head black in juveniles, usually with a yellow horseshoe-shaped mark above (Figure 19b); adults with head sometimes of same color as body without the horseshoe-shaped mark (Figure 20b).

Size.

Mean TL 1243 mm, maximum 1447 mm (n = 4); [n = 7, mean TL 1195 mm, maximum TL 1495 mm ( Volsøe 1939)].

General distribution.

Indo-West Pacific, from the Persian Gulf to Japan ( David and Ineich 1999).

IUCN Red List Category.

Least concern ( IUCN 2016).

Remarks.

In the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, juveniles of Hydrophis cyanocinctus (smaller than one meter) are morphologically close to Hydrophis lapemoides . In this case, focusing on the shape of scales in the thickest part of the body (with rounded or bluntly pointed tips versus more or less hexagonal or quadrangular in shape in Hydrophis lapemoides ) is helpful (see diagnostic features for both species). But adults exceed one meter, which is very rare in Hydrophis lapemoides . Wall (1921) mentioned that Hydrophis cyanocinctus is probably the most abundant species in the region. Volsøe (1939) however mentioned that in the Persian Gulf it is equaled or even surpassed by Hydrophis lapemoides and Hydrophis curtus . Gasperetti (1988) mentioned that both Hydrophis cyanocinctus and Hydrophis lapemoides are the most abundant sea snakes in both gulfs. Rezaie-Atagholipour et al. (2012) mentioned that Hydrophis cyanocinctus is the most abundant sea snake in Hara Biosphere Reserve (the largest mangrove stand in the northwestern Indian Ocean) of the Persian Gulf. Intertwining of two Hydrophis cyanocinctus is sometimes observed in the mangrove channels of the same ecosystem and other mangrove stands in the area (Figure 20; for more details see Rezaie-Atagholipour et al. 2012). Rezaie-Atagholipour et al. (2013) studied feeding habits of the same population in the biosphere reserve and found that main prey items for Hydrophis cyanocinctus in this protected area are the mudskippers ( Gobiidae , Oxudercinae). The venom proteomes were also investigated for the same population of Hydrophis cyanocinctus in the Hara Biosphere Reserve of the Persian Gulf ( Calvete et al. 2012; Khorjestan et al. 2016).