Rediscovery of the Yellow-bellied Sea Snake, Hydrophis platurus (Linnaeus, 1766) in Máncora, northern Perú

Abstract

The presence of the Yellow-bellied Sea Snake (Hydrophis platurus) in the Southeast Pacific is rarely reported, with only one confirmed observation from northern Perú made in the early 1950s. We present new information based on a live-stranded specimen recently found in Peruvian waters, having washed ashore at Máncora (04.1255° S, 81.0958° W) in northern Perú on 12 July 2012. This stranding was associated with a Modoki El Niño warm event, since positive sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies up to 2.5°C were registered at this time.