How coral snakes are different from other venomous snakes | ECOVIEWS

With fall afoot and baby snakes a-slither, we will soon have more snakes on the landscape than at any other time of the year. The following is one of the many questions readers ask about snakes of the Southeast.

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Q. I hear a lot about the danger of rattlesnakes and copperheads in the South, but no one provides much information about coral snakes. Are they really different from the other poisonous species?

A. Snakes qualify as one of the world’s most fascinating groups of creatures, one with which virtually everyone is familiar. A snake on a school playground will nearly always attract a bigger crowd than any bird, with the exception of, say, an ostrich or a penguin. People are intrigued with snakes of every size, in part, perhaps, because some are potentially dangerous. Yet only a handful of the more than 50 species occurring naturally in the Southeast are venomous. All snakes have teeth, some also have fangs, and some will bite if picked up. Most snakes in the U.S. are harmless.

For many people the words “venomous” and “poisonous” are synonymous. The difference is that venom is injected into the bloodstream; poison is typically injected or absorbed through mucous membranes. As far as I know, no U.S. snakes are poisonous to eat, although I have only tried a few so cannot speak with certainty about all of them.

Copperheads, cottonmouths and three kinds of southeastern rattlesnakes, all venomous, are known as pit vipers. The heat-sensitive pit is located between the nostril and eye. If you are attempting to use the presence of this pit to determine whether a live snake in the woods is venomous, you are probably too close to the snake.

Like pit vipers, coral snakes have hollow fangs in the front of the mouth with tubular connections to venom sacs located in the head. But the two groups differ in several ways. Coral snakes are the only North American snakes in the cobra family. Their venom, generally referred to as neurotoxic venom, is different from that of most other U.S. snakes. It affects the nervous system and results in muscle paralysis. As the effect of the venom moves through the body, diaphragm muscles may be paralyzed, making breathing difficult. If paralysis continues unchecked, the result will be fatal.

From a human safety standpoint, U.S. coral snakes are small, rare and unlikely to bite a person unless picked up, which no one other than a herpetologist should do. An accidental bite from an unseen coral snake is a truly rare event. The greatest likelihood of a coral snake bite is to a child who might pick up a brightly colored red, yellow and black snake because it is pretty.

The eastern variety, which is one of 70 species of coral snakes in the Americas, is found in the Coastal Plain from Louisiana to the Carolinas and throughout Florida.

Despite the potency of coral snake venom, a victim has plenty of time to seek medical attention. According to “The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere” (Comstock Publishing Associates) “the onset of symptoms usually begins during the first 2–6 hours following a bite . . . [and] may require 48 hours to reach the maximum effect.” Ample time would be available anywhere in the country to reach a hospital.

I have firsthand knowledge of two eastern coral snake bites; both stories had happy endings. Each person — a young girl and an adult male — was bitten on the finger. Numbness and paralysis slowly progressed up the arm. The attending physician told me the man could not feel a needle stuck into his hand.

When the victims were given coral snake antivenin, the process immediately reversed itself and the paralysis gradually disappeared. Why did the grown man pick up a coral snake in the first place? I have no idea. But I'd say it's a question he may ponder for the rest of his life.

Next week: What are pit vipers?

Whit Gibbons is professor of zoology and senior biologist at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. If you have an environmental question or comment, email [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Why coral snakes are different from other venomous snakes | ECOVIEWS