South-East Asia’s tentacled snake Erpeton tentaculatum must be a frightening sight – for fish
The tentacled snake Erpeton tentaculatum of South-East Asia is a devilish fear-monger that will scare you to your very core – if you’re a fish. This wily, piscivorous water snake spooks prey right into its mouth.
What is the Erpeton tentaculatum?
The Erpeton tentaculatum is an aquatic snake found in Southeast Asia.
Where does the Erpeton tentaculatum live?
The snake spends most of its life in shallow, murky lagoons or creeks, coming up for air every 30 minutes. It lies in ambush, stretched out along the bottom with its head and neck curved back, forming a ‘J’ shape on the mud.
How does the Erpeton tentaculatum catch its prey?
When a fish enters the ‘bay’ formed between its head and body, the snake shakes its flank (the section ‘across the bay’ from its face). The alarmed fish usually turns tail and darts off in the opposite direction – often straight into the snake’s mouth. The entire process, from feint to fish dinner, takes less
than 0.02 seconds.
The serpent pulls this off by tapping into a startle reaction in fish called a C-start – a neuronally hardwired escape response in which a fish makes a U-turn away from a striking predator or other trigger (bending its body into a C shape in the process). This cannot be stopped.