Sea Snakes

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

Many snakes spend some time swimming or hunting in the water, but only true sea snakes spend their entire lives in water and most of them live in the warm waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Since too much salt is harmful, these creatures have a sublingual gland that collects salt; when it is full the snake spits out the salt. Scientists don't really know how snakes first became residents of the sea. Several theories have been proffered, including the proposition that these sea snakes are relatives of the land cobras. Clear, colorful photographs appear on every page. Unfamiliar words are spelled phonetically in the text. There also is also a glossary and brief index.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-Although packed with full-color photos, these titles do not include range maps or drawings to illustrate the unique physiology of these animals. Sea Creatures introduces the octopus, squid, cuttlefish, and nautilus, but skips around too much to provide much information about any of these species. Language and tone are uneven throughout, e.g., a caption uses "yummy treat" to describe how an octopus regards a lobster. Although full-color photographs show two male octopuses mating with one female and two cuttlefish mating on a coral reef, the text sometimes glosses over details about how they mate and refers to this behavior as "time to raise a family." Mary M. Cerullo's The Octopus (Dutton, 1997) uses action photographs to show the variety and beauty of these boneless animals. Sea Snakes introduces the physical characteristics, habitats, and life cycle of these members of the Hydrophiidae family but does not identify where each species lives. Unsupported statements such as "Most fish learn to stay away from sea snakes" mar the factual presentation. Sneed B. Collard's Sea Snakes (Boyds Mills, 1997) provides more information and is reinforced with a colorful range map. Visually appealing but not compellingly written or exhaustive enough to provide homework support, these titles are not essential purchases.-Frances E. Millhouser, Chantilly Regional Library, VA