Tentacled snake

Erpeton tentaculatum · The tentacled snake is a rear-fanged aquatic snake native to Southeast Asia that spends its whole life in murky water.

Also called Arowana snake, Tentacle Snake.

Tentacled snake
Photo: Jlamarch, CC0
Tentacled snake
Photo: Photo by David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0
Tentacled snake
Photo: Ryan Somma, CC BY-SA 2.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassReptilia
OrderSquamata
FamilyHomalopsidae
GenusErpeton
SpeciesErpeton tentaculatum

Where it lives

Slow, murky fresh and brackish waters of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Fun facts

  • It can hold its breath and stay underwater for up to 30 minutes without surfacing.
  • While hunting, it anchors itself with its tail and curls its body into an upside-down J shape to ambush fish.
  • It fools fish into darting the wrong way by triggering their C-shaped escape reflex, then grabs them.
  • Its babies develop from eggs inside the mother and are born alive underwater.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).