Divers regularly report sea snake interactions involving chasing and biting, the reasons for which were previously unclear.
The study uses data collected by co-author Tim Lynch to describe encounters with olive sea snakes in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, between 1994 and 95.
In 74 of 158 encounters, sea snakes approached Lynch, and this was more common in the mating season from May to August.
During this period, male sea snakes look for females and begin courting them as soon as they see them, study co-author Rick Shine, a professor of biological sciences at Macquarie University in Sydney, told CNN.
This involves, to a large extent, shaking the female’s body with her tongue to check the skin’s chemicals to make sure it’s the right species and sex, Shine added.
“Then align your body with yours, perhaps wrapping it in coils to hold it in place so you can position yourself for copulation,” Shine said. “But females are often not interested, so they move away and hide in the coral.”
According to the study, male sea snakes were more likely than females to approach divers, especially during the mating season.
In some cases, they threw their tongue at the diver and in 13 cases they charged at the diver. When a male sea snake charged against the diver, it arrived directly after an unsuccessful chase of a female or after an interaction with a rival male.
Loads of females were observed after being chased by males or interacting with the diver before losing sight of her.
In three cases, male sea snakes wrapped around the diver’s fin, which is usually seen during courtship.
“These patterns suggest that sea snake‘ attacks ’against humans result from a misidentified identity during sexual interactions,” the study says.
According to previous research, sea snakes may have difficulty identifying shapes underwater.
“Like dogs, snakes rely primarily on smell, not vision, to find out what’s going on in the world around them,” said Shine, who explained that they use the tip of their tongue to get clues. odor which they then analyze by means of a special organ on the roof of the mouth.
Large sea snakes are potentially deadly to humans, Shine said.
“Having a giant snake thrown at you and starting to check on you can be life-threatening even if the snake doesn’t try to bite you,” he added. “Panic is deadly.”
The team suggests that divers should stay still and that the sea snake should investigate them with its tongue.
“Our study shows that staying calm is the key. The snake doesn’t attack you,” Shine told CNN. “He just thinks it’s possible you’re a female snake. And once he finds out that’s not the case, he’ll go looking for love somewhere else.”
The investigation was published Thursday.