SOUTHERLY SNAKES
Thanks for your wonderful magazine. I particularly enjoyed the article on sea snakes (AG 163) because it revived memories from almost 70 years ago when my Aunty Phebe took myself and my brother flounder fishing – illegally, because this area is a marine sanctuary – north of St Helens Beach, North Geelong, Victoria. Aunty Phebe warned us beforehand to just freeze when a sea snake swam up to our light.
Most times when we went floundering, we saw sea snakes and we froze. The snakes, which were about 40–50cm long, seemed quite inquisitive, but soon swam away.
I can’t really remember what their patterning was, but I think they were black and white. It’s a long time ago; I was only about 10 years old.
The map on page 75 shows, and the article states, sea snakes are only found as far south as northern NSW.
Is that because they are just more common in the mapped area?
Also, if we went to St Helens early in the morning, before the crowds arrived, there would be a rakali fossicking along the shallows a few metres from the swimming area. All references I have read about rakali places them close to fresh water, but this was a “water rat”; it had a white-tipped tail. Do rakali often live along the sea shoreline as well as lakes and rivers?
Unfortunately, most of this seagrass bed has been filled over and turned into a car park. ROB BARRON, TATURA, VIC
ED: Our distribution map was generalised to reflect the majority of sea snake species. Rakali are found in and around both fresh water and sea water.