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Arafurae File Snake of Western Australia Family Acrochordidae Harmless |
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Arafurae File Snake of Western Australia Family Acrochordidae Harmless |
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The Armadale Reptile Centre has this snake identified as Acrochordus arafurae
There are only three species in this family, two being in northern Australia. It is an aquatic snake, not a sea snake. It lives in fresh watercourses such as rivers connected to the Arafura Sea (hence the name), billabongs and mangroves. This file snake is found further inland than the Little File snake. |
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They are very slow moving on land. In fact they are very slow to do most things, like hunting and reproducing, even taking longer than most snakes to reach sexual maturity and they slough their skins less frequently. File snakes have very small rough scales and baggy loose skin. They have no fangs. |
What does it eat? File snakes catch fresh water fish, such as Catfish, by grabbing them while they hang on by rapping their tail around a root. Females hunt in deeper water and can also eat cod and barramundi, whereas the males feed in shallower water on cardinal fish. File snakes do not feed for weeks at a time.
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Photographed at Armadale Reptile Centre Perth |
Their total length is approx 1.5m. They can reach up to 2.5m in TL and weigh 5kg. They have a large robust body. They could be nocturnal and diurnal. The File snake is a live-bearing snake. They ovulate (when the ova are released and fertilised) in late November and give birth late in the wet season They may not reproduce every year perhaps only reproducing up to every 10 years. The aboriginal women still hunt the file snakes in the northern territory which are then cooked and eaten. They are much easier to catch in the dry season (May-Oct) when the waterways are reduced to pools where many File snakes may congregate at the same time. Here the File snake is coming up to the surface of the water to breathe. Its nostrils are close together. The water is blocked out by a flap of skin on the roof of the mouth. |
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File snakes shelter under tree roots and vegetation. The File snake is strong in numbers even though it does not breed every year. They get darker in colour as they get older. |
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Text "Snakes of Western
Australia" by G.M. Storr, L.A Smith and R.E. Johnstone http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Acrochordus_arafurae.html Go here to learn more about reproduction http://www.bio.usyd.edu.au/Shinelab/shine/reprints/267rainfishsnakes.pdf |
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