Thai National Parks

Crab-eating mud snake

In Thai: งูปลาหัวเทา, ngu plaa hua thao

Binomial name: Fordonia leucobalia, Hermann Schlegel, 1837

The aquatic snake Fordonia leucobalia is known by the common names crab-eating water snake and white-bellied mangrove snake. It is a common resident of mangrove swamps and tropical tidal wetlands from Southeast Asia to the coasts of Northern Australia.

Individual F. leucobalia reach up to a meter in length, and are brown or gray in color with a white belly. There is significant color variation. Some have spots. The anatomy reflects the snake's water-living lifestyle: the eyes are located atop the head, and the nostrils have valves that close when the snake dives.

The snake eats small prey that live in its habitat, such as frogs and small fish, and it specializes in crabs, hence its name. Like other homalopsines, F. leucobalia bears live young.

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