''Nerodia clarkii'', commonly known as the salt marsh snake, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of semiaquatic, nonvenomous,

colubrid Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ev ...

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

found in the southeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, in the brackish

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

es along the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, with a population in northern

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Etymology

The specific name, ''clarkii'', is in honor of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

surveyor and naturalist John Henry Clark (1830-1885).

Description

Salt marsh snakes grow to a total length (including tail) of to , and are highly variable in pattern and coloration. Populations of the Gulf salt marsh snake ('' N. c. clarkii'') from the vicinity of Corpus Christi, Texas, to the Gulf Hammock region of Florida are gray, tan or yellow with four brown to black longitudinal stripes. Populations in Florida from

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

south to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

and northward along the Atlantic coast to the vicinity of Cape Canaveral are referred to as the mangrove salt marsh snake (''N. c. compressicauda''). This subspecies exhibits many colors and patterns and can be gray, green, or tan with darker banding or may even be solid reddish orange or straw yellow. A third subspecies, the Atlantic salt marsh snake (''N. c. taeniata''), is restricted to a small stretch of coastline in

Volusia Volusia County (, ) is located in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Florida, stretching between the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2020 census, the county was home to 553,543 people, an increase of 11.9% from the 2 ...

and Indian River Counties, Florida. This race is smaller than the other two and has a color pattern of four dark stripes on the neck which are replaced by a series of dark blotches or bands on the posterior portion of the snake's body. It is currently listed as a Threatened Species by the

US Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

Taxonomy

Some sources consider the three races of ''N. clarkii'' to be subspecies of the southern water snake, ''

Nerodia fasciata The banded water snake or southern water snake (''Nerodia fasciata'') is a species of mostly aquatic, nonvenomous, colubrid snakes endemic to the Midwest and Southeastern United States. Geographic range ''N. fasciata'' is natively found from ...

''. Others consider not only the three races of ''N. clarkii'', but also the species ''N. fasciata'' itself, all to be subspecies of ''N. sipedon''. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock. 1,105 pp. (in 2 volumes) (''Natrix sipedon clarki, N. s. compressicauda'', pp. 515-522, Figures 151-154; ''N. f. taeniata'', pp. 541-544, Figure 161; Map 40 on p. 491).

Subspecies

The following three subspecies of ''N. clarkii'' are recognized as being valid, including the

nominotypical subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

. *''

Nerodia clarkii clarkii ''Nerodia clarkii clarkii'', the Gulf salt marsh snake, is a subspecies of '' N. clarkii'' that is indigenous to the south-eastern United States. It is a nonvenomous, colubrid snake that inhabits coastal salt marshes and brackish estuaries along ...

'' ( Baird & Girard, 1853) – Gulf salt marsh snake *'' Nerodia clarkii compressicauda'' ( Kennicott, 1860) – mangrove salt marsh snake *'' Nerodia clarkii taeniata'' (

Cope The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colour. A c ...

, 1895) – Atlantic salt marsh snake

References

External links

Herps of Texas: ''Nerodia clarkii''Texas Parks & Wildlife: Gulf Salt Marsh Snake

* Baird SF, Girard CF (1853). ''Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I.—Serpents.'' Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Institution. xvi + 172 pp. (''Regina clarkii'', new species, p. 48). * Boulenger GA (1893). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families ... Colubridæ Aglyphæ, part.'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. (''Tropidonotus clarkii'', p. 238). * Conant, Roger; Bridges, William (1939). ''What Snake Is That?: A Field Guide to the Snakes of the United States East of the Rocky Mountains''. (With 108 drawings by

Edmond Malnate Edmond is a given name related to Edmund. Persons named Edmond include: * Edmond Canaple (1797–1876), French politician * Edmond Chehade (born 1993), Lebanese footballer * Edmond Conn (1914–1998), American farmer, businessman, and politici ...

). New York and London: D. Appleton-Century Company. Frontispiece map + viii + 163 pp. + Plates A-c, 1-32. (''Natrix sipedon clarkii'', pp. 105–106 + Plate 20, Figure 57). * Cope ED (1895). "On some new North American Snakes". ''American Naturalist'' 29: 676-680. (''Natrix compressicauda tæniata'', new subspecies, pp. 676–677). * Kennicott R (1860). "Descriptions of New Species of North American Serpents in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington". ''Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'' 12: 328-338. (''Nerodia compressicauda'', new species, pp. 335–336). * Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016). ''Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition''. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiv + 494 pp., 47 Plates, 207 Figures. . (''Nerodia clarkii'', pp. 414–415 + Plate 40).