Dont know about other places, but can tell that one N. tessellata sure scared the crap out of my father in law last summer in Sozopol. He went out snorkeling and came quite fast out from the water after encountering one. Didn't belive him first, but when I went snorkeling, there it was, and man it's beautifull how smooth they move underwater :)Georg 

I know N.natrix do it also sometimes at Lemnos 

Ilias,that's interesting! I didn't know about N.natrix!

It's interesting how they tolerate the salt water! On the next pages of the site there are also videos of N.tessellata feeding on sea fish. Any idea how they get rid off the excess salt? 

> It's interesting how they tolerate the salt water!
Well, why not; their skin is not that permeable, right?

> Any idea how they get rid off the excess salt?
Interesting one... 

>Well, why not; their skin is not that permeable, right?
Yes,of course! My first question was actually the same as the second(stupid,sorry!) because by "how they tolerate the salt water" I meant how they tolerate the salt that gets inside their body through their food! I don't have any idea if there's any research on that matter!?

I also wonder about the N.natrix that Ilias mentioned! What are they doing at sea? I'm not familiar with the situation on Lemnos...are the grass snakes there feeding more on fish? Because they surely won't find any amphibians in the sea! 

I'm not sure what are they doing there. Last year swimmers on a beach near my village killed a N.natrix that came out of the water. I also saw a juvenile M.rivulata where the waves splash at another beach... 

Ilias,is there a river delta close to that beach or some other fresh water body? 

yes there is, in both cases I described, but the water is more brackish. 

I have also seen natrix natrix in rock pools on a beach in folkestone, uk, and there is no river delta there!
 

OK, but in a Greek context, other sources of freshwater are often non-existent. That makes of course all the difference. 

I agree with Jeroen. In Crete I saw several N.tessellata swimming in the sea, not just in rock pools but actually in deep sea water, diving down looking for fish. This is surely because the fresh water source where they used to live has dried up or disappeared altogether so the snakes have had to adjust accordingly. 

Well, that might be a bit too strict - in Romania, tessellata enters the Black Sea, eventhough there is freshwater... 

Well more plentiful food? Or maybe they just do it to be ackward and contradict their own ecology ;-) 

Food for sure. And of course also so that we can talk about it ;-). 

Yeah,I think it's food,too! Jeroen,in Romania there's this island,in the Black Sea, off the Danube delts(it's called "the snake island"..don't remember the original name in Romanian). Arnold's guide says there are populations of melanistic N.tessellata! I was looking at the island on Google Earth..it is a very small one and doesn't seem to have any fresh water at all!So,I guess the snakes there are entirely "marine"! 

It's called Serpilor, Ilian. 

Exactly! So is there any fresh water? 

it doesn't seem to have, Ilian
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UMs_BWS7IkQ/SYhErR3MDEI/AAAAAAAAAD0/T2vmZdlmqP4/s320/InsulaSerpilor20.jpg
http://banknews.s3.amazonaws.com/poze/09-februarie/insula-serpilor.jpg

Is it really another ssp there? 

Aha, Ilias the subspecies lover ;-))).

I don't know about the morphological differentiation. Maybe we have to wait until Mario reads this. Genetics: for sure has not been included in any of the more recent studies 

>Aha, Ilias the subspecies lover ;-)))


hahaha! :-D 

That will be interesting for sure! In fact I've never heard of anyone(from the field herpers here) visiting the island and I certainly haven't seen any photos of the melanistic N.tessellata! 

hi guy , its known in galicia northern spain , exactly in islands like cies that natrix maura dive in the sea water and probably hunts sea fishes 

Hi! In Dalyan in Turkey I have observed several dicesnakes entering the sea either on the run for me or hunting small fishes. Also in several waterholes near the shoreline with brackish water we saw several dice snakes, juveniles and adults swimming and hunting. 

hi!
is it dice snake too? he was in lake in plitvice national park.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/fullsize/2807479710104134270JVymVQ
http://community.webshots.com/photo/fullsize/2269543400104134270fSIkvy
greetings. 

Yes. 

Here is a similar question on the subject from the RAUK site.
http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3336&PN=1 

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