biology

Olive-headed sea snake

Olive-headed sea snake is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Olive-headed sea snake rather than just read about it. In short: The olive-headed sea snake (Hydrophis major), also known as the greater sea snake, is a species of venomous sea snake in the family Elapidae. Geographic range It is found in the eastern Indian and western central Pacific Ocean in the waters off southern New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Australia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia).

Key takeaways

Olive-headed sea snake belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Olive-headed sea snake to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Olive-headed sea snake from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The olive-headed sea snake (Hydrophis major), also known as the greater sea snake, is a species of venomous sea snake in the family Elapidae.

Geographic range It is found in the eastern Indian and western central Pacific Ocean in the waters off southern New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Australia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia).

Description Yellowish or pale brownish dorsally, with darker brown or blackish crossbars. Crossbars may be all the same width, or they may be alternately broad and narrow. White ventrally, with or without small dark brown spots. Adults may attain a total length of 105 cm (3 ft 5+3⁄8 in), with a tail 12 cm (4+3⁄4 in) long. Dorsal scales imbricate (overlapping), strongly keeled on the neck, weakly keeled on the body; arranged in 31–36 rows around the neck, in 36 to 41 rows at midbody. Ventrals 200–236. Head moderate. Body stout. Rostral as broad as deep. Nasals shorter than the frontal, more than twice as long as the suture between the prefrontals. Frontal longer than broad, as long as its distance from the end of the snout. One preocular and two postoculars. Two superposed anterior temporals. Seven or eight upper labials, third and fourth entering the eye. Only one pair of small chin shields. Ventrals distinguishable, but very small, either smooth or bicarinate.

Footnotes

Further reading Cogger, H.G. 1975. The sea snakes of Australia and New Guinea. pp. 59–139 in Dunson, W. (ed.) The Biology of Sea Snakes. Baltimore University Park Press. Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing. Sanibel Island, Florida. 808 pp. Rasmussen, A.R. 1997. Systematics of sea snakes: a critical review. In: Thorpe, R.S.,\; Wüster, W.; & Malhotra, A. (eds.) Venomous snakes - ecology, evolution and snakebite. Clarendon Press (Oxford)/Symp. Zool. Soc. Lond. 70: 15-30. Shaw, G. 1802. General Zoology or Systematic Natural History, Vol. III., Part II. Amphibia. G. Kearsley. (Thomas Davison, printer.) London. pp. 313–615. (Hydrus major, pp. 558–559.)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Olive-headed sea snake

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Olive-headed sea snake claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Olive-headed sea snake before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Olive-headed sea snake ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Olive-headed sea snake

In research: Olive-headed sea snake appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Olive-headed sea snake in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Olive-headed sea snake is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Hydrophis, IUCN Red List least concern species, Reptiles described in 1802, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Olive-headed sea snake outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Olive-headed sea snake” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Olive-headed sea snake in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Olive-headed sea snake means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Olive-headed sea snake out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Olive-headed sea snake in simple terms?

The olive-headed sea snake (Hydrophis major), also known as the greater sea snake, is a species of venomous sea snake in the family Elapidae. Geographic range It is found in the eastern Indian and western central Pacific Ocean in the waters off southern New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Australia (New…

Why does Olive-headed sea snake matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Olive-headed sea snake?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Olive-headed sea snake.