Salt Marsh Snake

(Nerodia clarkii)

"Gulf Salt Marsh Water Snake"

Color Photographs: Jeff Boundy, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

"Mangrove Salt Marsh Snake"

Color Photograph © by and courtesy John White

"Atlantic Salt Marsh Snake"

Color Photograph: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Salt Marsh Snake (Nerodia clarkii)

Identification: Snake 15 to 36 inches in length. Small and not particularly chunky for a Water Snake. Adults usually light gray with four dark, longitudinal stripes. Some populations lack stripes or have only partial stripes. Belly red-brown to gray with 1 to 3 rows of light spots. Scales keeled and anal plate divided. Coloration and maculation of young is similar to adult individuals.

Geographical Variation:

Gulf Salt Marsh Snake (N. c. clarkii): Gray to black with distinctive light stripes on the body and neck. Range: Florida Panhandle to southeastern Texas.

Atlantic Salt Marsh Snake (N. c. taeniata): Body gray to tan with dark stripes on the front of the body, breaking into blotches on the back half. Range: Atlantic Coast of Florida in the coastal areas of Volusia, Brevard, and Indian River counties.

Mangrove Salt Marsh Snake (N. c. compressicauda): Color variable including olive, brown, tan, or black. Markings variable including individuals with stripes on the neck and others with faint crossbands on the body. Range: Gulf Coast of Florida southward to the Florida Keys and northward along the Atlantic Coast to Brevard County.

Range (see map below left): This species occurs along the coastlines of the southern United States from Volusia County along the Atlantic Coast of northeastern Florida, around the coast and northward along the Gulf Coast to the Florida Panhandle, and then westward to southeastern Texas.

Habitat: The Salt Marsh Snake is usually found along the coast in salt marshes, estuaries, and tidal mud flats.

Food: Fish, crabs, shrimp, and other marine invertebrates.

Behavior: The Salt Marsh Snake is primarily nocturnal. It commonly hides during the day under the detritus thrown up by the ocean.

Reproduction:  This species bears its young alive. Little else is known about its reproductive biology.

Salt Marsh Snake (Nerodia clarkii)

Similar Species:

Southern Water Snake (Nerodia fasciata).

Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis)