Hydrophiinae
Overview
 
Hydrophiinae, also known as sea snakes, is a group of venomous
Venomous snake
"Poisonous snake" redirects here. For true poisonous snakes, see Rhabdophis.Venomous snakes are snakes which have venom glands and specialized teeth for the injection of venom...

 elapid
Elapidae
Elapidae is a family of venomous snakes found in tropical and subtropical regions around the world, terrestrially in Asia, Australia, Africa, North America and South America and aquatically in the Pacific and Indian Oceans...

 snakes that inhabit marine environments for most or all of their lives. Though they evolved from terrestrial ancestors, most are extensively adapted to a fully aquatic life and are unable to move on land, except for the genus Laticauda
Laticauda
Laticauda is a genus of snakes from the family Hydrophiidae. Laticauda are the least adapted to sea life of all the members of Hydrophiidae; they retain the wide ventral scales typical of terrestrial snakes and have only a poorly developed tail fin...

, which retain ancestral characteristics, allowing limited land movement. They are found in warm coastal waters from the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 to the Pacific.

All have paddle-like tails and many have laterally compressed bodies that give them an eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

-like appearance.
 
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