Material Examined : 3 adults.

Description & Scalation : Body stout. Head slightly broader than neck. Eye small with elliptical pupil. Snout broadly rounded; nostril connected by suture to the first labial; frontal broken into small scales; 1 large loreal, higher than long, in contact with internasal. 1 pre-, 1 post- and 2 suboculars; temporals small scale like. Scales strongly keeled, in 23:25:23 rows; supralabials 9 ( 5th and 6th below the eye, last 2 or 3 horizontally divided ); infralabials 8, first 3-4 touching the first pair of genials; ventrals 137–139, well developed; subcaudals 66-68, paired; anal divided.

Coloration : Commonly seen color form - Greyish, brownish or olivaceous above, with light or bold black crossbars or spots. Underside whitish or greyish with black spots or uniform. A black streak on the side of the head, passing through the eye and on to the neck.

One specimen from Nicobar was uniform dark purplish above and yellow below with bold black blotches, also lacking a black streak on the side of the head.

Natural History : Nocturnal in habits, also seen active by day. Fairly common in Andamans, uncommon in Nicobars. Mainly found in mudflats and mangrove swamps, one individual was seen in a fresh-water stream, far away from the coast in Middle Andaman. Seen feeding on fish and mudskippers, during low tide when it is easy to catch small fish stranded in small pools. A bold snake, moves across mud by side-winding. Between 6 to 30 young are born. Grows up to 1.25m.

Distribution - India : Mainland coastal areas and tidal rivers, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Elsewhere : Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, up to Australia.

External link : http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Cerberus&species=rynchops