Sea Snake research in New Caledonia
Résumé
New Caledonia hosts about fourteen species of sea snakes. They belong to both of the marine Elapidae
lineages: laticaudinae or sea kraits, which are oviparous and amphibious, and hydrophiinae or true sea
snakes, which are viviparous and fully marine. Some populations of these sea snakes species are
exceptionally easy to access for researchers, as they inhabit shallow coastal waters near urbanized areas.
However, they did not attract much interest from scientists before the twenty-first century. Less than 20
scientific articles about New Caledonian sea snakes were published before 2000, some of them only
making a brief account of species presence. Sea snake research greatly increased in New Caledonia during
twenty-first century, as more than 55 articles containing data about New Caledonia sea snakes were
published to date. Professor Rick Shine is one of the major initiators of this increase, since he authored or
co-authored at least 35 of these papers. These studies cover different aspects of sea snake ecology and
evolution. This presentation aims to highlight some of the findings of his research about sea snakes in
New Caledonia.