Aipysurus laevis
Silhouette: Christina Zdenek · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
Aipysurus laevis is a species of venomous sea snake found in the Indo-Pacific. Its common names include golden sea snake, olive sea snake, and olive-brown sea snake. A species was first described by Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1804, assigning it to a new genus Aipysurus.
A name published by John Edward Gray, Aipysurus jukesii, is regarded as a synonym for this species. Currently, two subspecies are recognized, including the nominotypical subspecies described below. The subspecies A. l. pooleorum has been elevated to full species status as A. pooleorum.
Aipysurus derives from the Greek aipys "high and steep" and oura "tail"; the term loosely meaning "high tail" was coined to denote "the laterally compressed tail that is higher than the depth of the body". Laevis, a variant form of Latin levis, means "smooth". The specific name, pooleorum (masculine, genitive plural), is in honor of Australian fishermen "W. and W. Poole" who collected the holotype.
It is a common, widespread species that lives on coral reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef. It can be found in the tropical eastern Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ningaloo Marine Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oceanarium in Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Cairns Aquarium | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report an Olive Sea Snake sighting in Ningaloo Marine Park on a given day, based on 31 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 29 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May–July, September and November
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report an Olive Sea Snake in Ningaloo Marine Park on a given day, against under 5% in January to March, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Olive Sea Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Ningaloo Marine Park, in our data
Ningaloo Marine Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Olive Sea Snake sightings: about 30% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Elapidae
The closest relatives of the Olive Sea Snake that you can see in Ningaloo Marine Park (family Elapidae, Elapid Snakes) are Pilbara Death Adder (about 30%), Mulga Snake (about 30%) and Stokes's Seasnake (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Olive Sea Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Ningaloo Marine Park (31 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
