Hydrophis stokesii
Silhouette: Dr Christina Zdenek · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Stokes's sea snake (Hydrophis stokesii) is a large species of sea snake in the family Elapidae. It is sometimes placed in its own genus Astrotia. The species is endemic to tropical Indo-Pacific oceanic waters. Both the specific name, stokesii, and the common name, Stokes' seasnake, are in honor of Royal Navy Admiral John Lort Stokes.
Stokes's sea snake is one of the heaviest and stoutest seasnakes, with the longest fangs of any marine snake. Its fangs are long enough to pierce a wetsuit. Its mid-ventral scales are enlarged to form a distinct keel on its belly, the keel frequently broken up into two wart-like tubercles. A. stokesii is highly variable in colour, ranging from cream to brown to black, often with broad black dorsal cross bands, or black rings.
Rostral as deep as broad; nasals shorter than the frontal, more than twice as long as the suture between the prefrontals; frontal longer than broad, as long as or slightly longer than its distance from the rostral scale; one pre- and two postoculars, 9 or 10 upper labials, fourth, fifth, and sixth catering the eye, if not divided to form a series of suboculars; two or three superposed anterior temporals... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ningaloo Marine Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Stokes's Seasnake sighting in Ningaloo Marine Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 20th most-seen of the 29 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and July
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Stokes's Seasnake in Ningaloo Marine Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–April, August–September and November–December, the lowest months. Those are among Ningaloo Marine Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain a month against 50 mm in June.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Stokes's Seasnake 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 Stokes's Seasnake sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Elapidae
The closest relatives of the Stokes's Seasnake that you can see in Ningaloo Marine Park (family Elapidae, Elapid Snakes) are Olive Sea Snake (about 30%), Pilbara Death Adder (about 30%) and Mulga Snake (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Stokes's Seasnake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Ningaloo Marine Park (8 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.
