The Lure... (European Viperine Snake)

Hi Folks, just back from Mallorca where I have been helping a friend and colleague conduct some research on the introduced European Viperine Snake (Natrx maura).. Some of the information we were gathering included their behaviour. Much like our Grass snake (Natrix natrix) they feed predominantly on frogs and fish and whilst observing them doing just that we witnessed a behaviour never recorded (we think) in this species before..!

The use of the tongue as a lure..! They'd haul out on a rock in the middle of a pool and position themselves completely motionless except to dip their tongue into the water to attract fish, in this case another introduced species 'Gambusia'.

This image shows just how motionless they are with flies all over them and the tongue extended into the water just before that all important lunge..

Sorry for the essay but thought you might be interested in sharing this observation..

Kind regards,

Brett

Canon 1d Mk3, Canon 100-400mm @ 400mm, CP filter, HH
1/250 @ f10, ISO 400

Fascinating behaviour. Personally I am equally amazed at the flies on its back.

David

Great stuff Brett.
I seem to recall seeing them do this in the
Camargue some years back. Just realised - isn't the gambusia the "Guppies " we used to keep as our first attempt at tropical fish keeping ?
They were in the Cam. too
Cheers
John

Thanks John, the Gambusia were introduced to the Spanish mainland some years ago to help rid the place of mosquitos and the threat of malaria etc.. They did such a good job there that similar was carried out on the islands too. They eat the larvae and so help break the cycle. The amount if time I spent around water bodies there was extreme but I never got bitten once..! Quite pleasant really considering most of the ponds were drying up on a daily basis.

very interesting Brett and your shot captures the behaviour very well. The background looks a little noisy but easily sorted.

Matt

A very interesting nh shot Brett and story. The light and colours are superb. What intrigues me are those flies, they look huge in comparison to the snake..

Good to have you back.

Fran

Interesting behavioural shot - and a new thing I've learned - ain't nature great

fascinating behaviour you've captured, the flies really give a sense of scale too

Great story, great light, great shot
congrats,
Bertl

Hi Bret, interesting essay. I like this kind of behavioural stories. Also amazed by the flies on the snake.
By the way I also like the picture :)

What an interesting behaviour you've captured here. Lovely shot with great light. Very well done!

Is the tongue in the water not just sensitive to approaching fish vibrations a bit like spiders and webs, also is it likely/probably a means to overcome water diffraction viewing issues for the strike from above to below water? I doubt it is a "lure" to bring the fish to them.

Hi Mike, you probably have some good ideas there but I strongly suspect that this is tongue luring as well. We have plenty of video footage and photographs to show exactly what was going on and you can also tell by the direction of the tongue flicks etc.. There is a lot of published data on the foraging behaviour of a number of 'water snake' species and luring is well documented in some of those including the Mangrove snake among others. I also have a number of photos showing the fish investigating the tongue movement and then the final lunge was recorded on video by my colleague so we seem to have the whole package documented. Thanks for your interest and suggestions.

Kind regards,

Brett

Very nice,love the composition brett+reflection, cracking