REPRODUCTION IN THE YELLOW-BELLIED SEA-SNAKE (PELAMIS-PLATURUS) FROM PANAMA - FIELD AND LABORATORY OBSERVATIONS

Little is known of the reproductive biology of the yellow-bellied sea snake (Pelamis platurus), a species widely distributed in the Indo-Pac ific and eastern Pacific Oceans. We observed mating, birth, and free-r anging neonates of P. platurus while collecting this snake once a mont h over 19 months in the Gulf of Chiriqui, Panama. A pair of copulating snakes was netted on the water surface during February. Neonates, whi ch were identified by size, were observed from September to December. Captive females gave birth during September. Neonates born in captivit y emerged head- or tailfirst, shed the remnants of the fetal membranes by coiling their body in a circular loop, and then surfaced to breath e. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.