sea snake

noun

any of numerous venomous aquatic viviparous snakes having a fin-like tail; of warm littoral seas; feed on fish which they immobilize with quick-acting venom

• Hypernyms: ↑snake, ↑serpent, ↑ophidian

• Member Holonyms: ↑Hydrophidae, ↑family Hydrophidae

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noun

1. : any of numerous venomous aquatic snakes constituting the family Hydrophidae, having the tail compressed and with small scales on the ventral surface, being usually viviparous, and with few exceptions living in warm littoral seas and feeding on fish

2. : sea serpent 1

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any of several venomous marine snakes of the family Hydrophidae, having a finlike tail.

[1745-55]

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sea snake noun

1. A snake that lives in the sea, esp of the very venomous family Hydrophidae of the Indian and Pacific oceans

2. A sea serpent

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Main Entry: ↑sea

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sea snake,

1. any one of a family of poisonous snakes with finlike tails that live in tropical seas: »

The true sea snakes have a poison as deadly as that of the cobra (Science News Letter).

2. = sea serpent (def. 1). (Cf. ↑sea serpent)

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n. a venomous marine snake with a flattened tail, that lives in the warm coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans and does not come onto land. ● Subfamily Hydrophiinae, family Elapidae: several genera and species, including the yellow-bellied sea snake (Pelamis platurus), the only species found in the open ocean