Coral Reef Snake

Do you reminisce about the old days? You know, back in the days of the glorious Gold Standard. Then check out my friends at Birch Gold Group. Diversify your portfolio from just stock and bonds and invest in hard assets, like fabulous gold. If you use promo code STCKYF, Birch Gold will match your initial investment up to $100.

Welcome to the next installment of Shit That Can Kill You Fridays!

This week STCKYF features the Coral Reef Snake.

"A snake from a coral reef? Like, in the ocean?" Yes, Jack, from in the ocean. It looks just like a terrestrial snakes except that the tail is flat to facilitate swimming. Picture a snake in your head, go on, close your eyes and picture it (but don't keep them closed for too long because you will eventually want to keep reading). Remember how snakes are always sticking their tongues out to "taste the air"? Well, Coral Reef Snakes don't do that. You see, sensory perception can't be done the same way under water as on land. Smell, sight and sound are distorted under water, and therefore less reliable. The Coral Reef Snake relies on marginal sight, photo-receptors, and vibrations to locate prey and avoid predators. 

Science theorizes that the Coral Reef Snake also has the ability to sense electro-magnetic energy and pressure. This is only a theory to science but I am willing to confirm it, right here, right now. STCKYF has declared it. Remember this moment the next time your reading Science Weekly, or Obscure Animals Quarterly.

Lookout cone snails, the coral reef snake may be gunning for your title as the assassin of the sea. Bites from sea snakes often go unnoticed because they are painless, do not swell and they do not affect the lymph nodes. So then how do you know if you've been bitten? What are the symptoms? This is where I usually tell you that after you're bitten you will be nauseated, dizzy, maybe an elevated heart rate. Well not so fast, Jack! None of those things will happen here. The first symptoms after being bitten by a coral reef snake are rhabdomyolysis, trismus, and paralysis. These snakes definitely aren't throwing any softballs. We all know what paralysis is (hopefully), but what are those other two science words? Well, to sort that out we've asked our resident medical expert, Dr. Doogie Howser, to weigh in (and by "asked to weigh in" I mean he was already in our office lobby, begging my receptionist to let him be in this weeks edition).

Dr. Howser informed me that rhabomyolsis is the rapid break down of skeletal muscle tissue. As you may have guessed, when your muscles break down you become weak and struggle with tasks that were previously simple. As the muscles breakdown all that tissue formerly known as muscle has to go somewhere, right? Pop Quiz! What organ filters harmful things out of your blood? The Kidneys! (Sorry, Jack. Try to be a little faster on the buzzer next time). Unfortunately for you, proteins like myoglobin are harmful to the kidneys, leading to kidney failure. Not an ideal situation. Trismus, the less exciting of the pair, is just fancy doctor speak for lockjaw. A fun addition to your post coral reef snake bit experience. These paired with paralysis can be a deadly combination. Remember, any of your muscles can be paralyzed. Including really important ones like the muscles used for swallowing and breathing. Bet you didn't think of that, did you? Coral Reef Snakes are not messing around when it comes to their venom.

Remember, these guys are around when you go scuba diving. They're not very aggressive, but don't tempt 'em. 

Stay safe out there.

--

Charles R Mercer

Amateur Oceanographer