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We will continue with the Galapagos Island theme today. This time we are going to head to the waters surrounding the famous islands. The pelagic sea snake (also referred to as the Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake) is an interesting animal that spends almost all of its time at sea.\u00a0 In fact, this particular snake becomes helpless when washed up on land.<\/p>\n

The pelagic sea snake is a venomous snake that can get up to about 1 meter (3 feet) in length.\u00a0 So how do these slippery reptiles live? Well, during the day they will be out hunting and when night falls they head to the ocean floor and sleep.\u00a0 Occasionally, they will need to come to the surface to grab a breath of fresh air. Impressively, the sea snake can stay underwater for almost three and a half hours.\u00a0 How can they breathe underwater for so long? That is a very good question! Thank you for asking.\u00a0 The pelagic sea snake utilizes something called cutaneous breathing.\u00a0 Basically, they are able to breathe through their skin by removing the oxygen from the water and releasing carbon dioxide (maybe they are the cause of climate change!).\u00a0 Another interesting feature of the sea snake that allows them to live under water is their salt gland.\u00a0 This special gland under their tongue allows them to filter the salt out of the water.\u00a0 Obviously, this is a very important characteristic for surviving in a marine environment.<\/p>\n

For the most part, you don’t need to worry about these venomous snakes as they don’t tend to be aggressive; however, they have been known to aggregate together by the thousands.\u00a0 Something tells me that most of you would not try swimming through thousands of yellow-bellied sea snakes or any kind of snake for that matter.\u00a0 I for one don’t blame you!<\/p>\n

I hope you enjoyed the second installment of the Wild Facts – Animals of the Galapagos.\u00a0 Have a great day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We will continue with the Galapagos Island theme today. This time we are going to head to the waters surrounding the famous islands. The pelagic sea snake (also referred to as the Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake) is an interesting animal that spends almost all of its time at sea.\u00a0 In fact, this particular snake becomes helpless when washed up on land. The pelagic sea snake is a venomous snake that can get up to about 1 meter (3 feet) in length.\u00a0 So how do these slippery reptiles live? Well, during the day they will be out hunting and when night falls <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4024,52],"tags":[348,392,4025,394,396,398,397,4027,258,395],"yoast_head":"\n