stranded in low tide.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Id please.

Found this fellow stranded in low tide. This is a quick frame grab from my Canon Cinema C300 camera and imported into lightroom for resizing. I couldn't see its head. The moment I tried to move closer it dug itself in and vanished soon.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Very hard to say. The video will surely help for ID. Size, location and any description of its movements could help too.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Abhishek,
This was in the thane creek. I think it was around 2.5 feet or so. I had a 100-400 lens and I quickly zoomed it and got this. It vanished within 10-15 seconds into the mud.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Roopak Gangadharan]

this looks like an Eel...they tend to do this when threatened.
TFS
Roopak

[Sabyasachi Patra]

The body was long and the tail tip is pointed unlike some of the sea snakes with flattened tails. When I saw this fellow it was lying on the mudflat in a typical snake kind of wavy pose. When I tried to move closer, it quickly shot ahead in the same wavy manner and dived into a hole, dug into it and vanished. Shot it with a 100-400.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

There has been another expert opinion about this as an eel due to slimy body, lack of scales and lack of paddle tail. However, on closer inspection I found that it has hexagonal scales. :(

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Just updating here so that everybody knows. This has been identified as a dog faced water snake Cerberus rynchops. This snake remains close to the shore and its tail is not flat like other sea snakes. Uploading a close up to show the scales.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Goes to show how important it is to get photographs/footage of each and every sighting. :)