{"id":37459,"date":"2024-04-19T11:28:22","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T09:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dec27046-6d20-4f4c-a281-bb9e476996f3"},"modified":"2024-04-19T12:35:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T10:35:39","slug":"how-the-devilish-water-snake-erpeton-tentaculatum-frightens-its-prey-right-into-its-mouth-in-less-than-0-02-seconds","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/how-the-devilish-water-snake-erpeton-tentaculatum-frightens-its-prey-right-into-its-mouth-in-less-than-0-02-seconds\/","title":{"rendered":"How the devilish water snake, Erpeton tentaculatum, frightens its prey right into its mouth &#8211; in less than 0.02 seconds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\">South-East Asia&#8217;s tentacled snake <em>Erpeton tentaculatum<\/em> must be a frightening sight &#8211; for fish <\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By <\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Friday, 19 April 2024 at 09:28 AM<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p class=\"p1\">The tentacled snake Erpeton tentaculatum of South-East Asia is a devilish fear-monger that will scare you to your very core \u2013 if you\u2019re a fish. This wily, piscivorous water snake spooks prey right into its mouth.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-the-erpeton-tentaculatum\">What is the<em> Erpeton tentaculatum<\/em>?<\/h2><p>The <em>Erpeton tentaculatum <\/em>is an aquatic snake found in Southeast Asia.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-group highlight-box is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\"><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/can-reptiles-breathe-underwater\/\">Can reptiles breathe underwater?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/worlds-longest-snake\/\">What is the longest snake in the world?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/smallest-snake-in-the-world\/\">What&#8217;s the smallest snake in the world?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/how-do-snakes-mate\/\">How do snakes mate?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-where-does-the-erpeton-tentaculatum-live\">Where does the <em>Erpeton tentaculatum<\/em> live?<\/h2><p class=\"p2\">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 \u2018J\u2019 shape on the mud. <\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-does-the-erpeton-tentaculatum-catch-its-prey\">How does the <em>Erpeton tentaculatum<\/em> catch its prey?<\/h2><p class=\"p2\">When a fish enters the \u2018bay\u2019 formed between its head and body, the snake shakes its flank (the section \u2018across the bay\u2019 from its face). The alarmed fish usually turns tail and darts off in the opposite direction \u2013 often straight into the snake\u2019s mouth. The entire process, from feint to fish dinner, takes less<br\/>than 0.02 seconds. <\/p><p class=\"p2\">The serpent pulls this off by tapping into a startle reaction in fish called a C-start \u2013 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.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tentacled Snakes, Erpeton tentaculatum, Eating Minnows.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wktwTyVwgIE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South-East Asia&#8217;s tentacled snake <em>Erpeton tentaculatum<\/em> must be a frightening sight &#8211; for fish <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":37460,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/how-the-devilish-water-snake-erpeton-tentaculatum-frightens-its-prey-right-into-its-mouth-in-less-than-0-02-seconds.jpg",2113,1418,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/how-the-devilish-water-snake-erpeton-tentaculatum-frightens-its-prey-right-into-its-mouth-in-less-than-0-02-seconds-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/how-the-devilish-water-snake-erpeton-tentaculatum-frightens-its-prey-right-into-its-mouth-in-less-than-0-02-seconds-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/how-the-devilish-water-snake-erpeton-tentaculatum-frightens-its-prey-right-into-its-mouth-in-less-than-0-02-seconds-768x515.jpg",768,515,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/how-the-devilish-water-snake-erpeton-tentaculatum-frightens-its-prey-right-into-its-mouth-in-less-than-0-02-seconds-1024x687.jpg",800,537,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/how-the-devilish-water-snake-erpeton-tentaculatum-frightens-its-prey-right-into-its-mouth-in-less-than-0-02-seconds-1536x1031.jpg",1536,1031,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/how-the-devilish-water-snake-erpeton-tentaculatum-frightens-its-prey-right-into-its-mouth-in-less-than-0-02-seconds-2048x1374.jpg",2048,1374,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"South-East Asia's tentacled snake Erpeton tentaculatum must be a frightening sight - for fish","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/37459"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}