Rare Sea Snakes Rediscovered in Australia: Endangered Species Not Extinct

A certain sea snake isn't as extinct as researchers once thought. They've found two critically endangered species of sea snakes off of the coast of Western Australia.

"This discovery is really exciting, we get another chance to protect these two endemic Western Australian sea snake species," said Blanche D'Anastasi, one of the researchers, in a news release. "But in order to success in protecting them, we will need to monitor populations as well as undertake research into understanding their biology and the threats they face."

The discovery of these sea snakes was confirmed after a Western Australia Parks and Wildlife Officer, Grant Griffin, sent a photo of a pair of snakes to researchers for identification.

"We were blown away, these potentially extinct snakes were there in plain sight, living on one of Australia's natural icons, Ningaloo Reef," said D'Anastasi. "What is even more exciting is that they were courting, suggesting that they are members of a breeding population.

The researchers also found that a significant population of the rare leaf scaled sea snake lived in seagrass beds.

"We had thought that this species of sea snake was only found on tropical coral reefs. Finding them in Seagrass beds at Shark Bay was a real surprise," said D'Anastasi.

While this is good news, sea snake numbers have still been declining in several marine parts. This makes it especially important to preserve these species with conservation efforts.

The findings are published in the journal Biological Conservation.

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