A genetic study has revealed turtleheaded snakes rarely breed with individuals on other reefs in Australia, so if one population was wiped out, it's unlikely to be "replenished" by neighbouring snakes.
The biologists from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and the University of Sydney used genetic "fingerprinting" to show that this behaviour has resulted in significant genetic differentiation in populations of the sea snakes, Emydocephalus annulatus, living on adjacent reefs.
These snakes occur in shallow water coral reef habitats from the Philippines to the Great Barrier Reef and from New Caledonia to north western Australia.
"The genetic divergence we found confirms that snakes rarely travel to other locations to mate, regardless of the distance, and means that if one population were to decline or disappear, it is unlikely to be 'replenished' by neighbouring snakes, because snakes rarely move between reefs," said lead researcher Dr Vimoksalehi Lukoschek in a release. (MORE)
