Nerodia clarkii
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| Salt Marsh Snake | ||||||||||||||||||||
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 Mangrove Salt Marsh Snake
Nerodia clarkii compressicauda |
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| Nerodia clarkii Baird & Girard, 1853 |
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Tropidonotus clarkii |
The Salt Marsh Snake (Nerodia clarkii) is a species of semiaquatic, non-venomous, colubrid snake found in the southeastern United States, in the brackish salt marshes along the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Texas, with a population in northern Cuba.
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[edit] Description
Salt Marsh Snakes grow from 15 to 30 inches in length, and are highly variable in pattern and coloration. Populations of the Gulf Salt Marsh Snake (N. clarkii clarkii) from the vicinity Corpus Christi Texas to the Gulf Hammock region of Florida are gray, tan or yellow with four brown to black longitudinal stripes. Populations from Tampa Bay, Florida south to Miami and northeward along the Atlantic coast to the vicinity of Cape Canaveral are referred to as the Mangrove Salt Marsh Snake (N. clarkii compressicauda). This subspecies exhibits many colors and patterns and can be gray, green, or tan with darker banding or may even be solid reddish orange or straw yellow. A third subspecies, the Atlantic Salt Marsh Snake (N. clarkii taeniata), is restricted to a small stretch of coastline in Volusia and Indian River counties. This race is smaller than the other two and has a color pattern of four dark stripes on the neck which are replaced by a serious of dark blotches or bands on the posterior portion of the snake's body. It is currently listed as a Threatened Species by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
[edit] Subspecies
There are three recognized subspecies of N. clarkii:
- Gulf Salt Marsh Snake, Nerodia clarkii clarkii (Baird & Girard, 1853)
- Mangrove Salt Marsh Snake, Nerodia clarkii compressicauda (Kennicott, 1860)
- Atlantic Salt Marsh Snake, Nerodia clarkii taeniata (Cope, 1895)
[edit] Taxonomy
Some sources consider the three races of N. clarkii to be subspecies of the Southern Water Snake, Nerodia fasciata.
