Eastern Coralsnake

Appearance

Generally less than 80 cm in length, its maximum reported length of 121.8 cm was for a specimen in Florida and 129.5 cm. Males have longer tails than females, but females reach a greater total length.

The dorsal scales are smooth in 15 rows. The ventral scales number 197-217 in males and 219-233 in females. There are 40-47 subcaudals in males and 30-37 in females. The anal plate is divided.

The color pattern consists of a series of rings that encircle the body: wide red and black rings separated by narrow yellow rings. The head is black from the rostral to just behind the eyes. The red rings are usually speckled with black. People who live in its natural range are often taught a folk rhyme as children: "Red next to black, safe from attack, red next to yellow, you're a dead fellow." The rhyme is useful in teaching children to distinguish king snakes , which are considered helpful predators of vermin such as rats and mice, from this much more dangerous snake that should only be handled by an experienced biologist or herpetologist. However, this rhyme is only applicable to the North American species, and cannot be used reliably in the Caribbean, or Central or South America.

Naming

Its common names include eastern coral snake, American cobra, candy stick, common coral snake, coral adder, Elaps harlequin snake, Florida coral snake, harlequin coral snake, North American coral snake, red bead snake, thunder-and-lightning snake, candy-stick snake, eastern coralsnake, Florida coralsnake, harlequin coralsnake, and ''serpiente-coralillo arlequín'' .

Habitat

''M. fulvius'' occurs in upland mesophytic and tropical hammocks in Florida, as well as glade land, high pine, scrub oak and live oak hammock, slash pine and wiregrass flatwoods. In southern Georgia and Florida, it is found in dry areas with open ground that are bushy but not heavily vegetated. It is associated with sandy ridges in Mississippi and sandy creek bottoms in Louisiana.

It is rarer in North and South Carolina, but is more typically found there in the scrub oak forests and pitch pine habitats near the coast, as well as the coastal plain of the southeast.

Reproduction

Females are reported to lay 3-12 eggs in June that hatch in September. Neonates are 18–23 cm in length.

Food

They eat lizards, frogs, and smaller snakes.

Defense

Bites and fatalities are very rare. Only two documented fatalities were attributed to this species in the 1950s, and only one has been reported since Wyeth antivenin became available for it in the 1960s. The most recent fatality attributed to the eastern coral snake occurred in 2006. The victim failed to seek proper medical attention and died several hours after being bitten, becoming the first fatality caused by ''M. fulvius'' in over 40 years.

''M. fulvius'' does not account for many cases of snakebite in the U.S., with only about 100 bites each year. The snake is considered secretive and generally reluctant to bite , and envenomation is thought to occur in only 40% of all bites. But unlike New World pit vipers, this New World coral snake cannot control the amount of primarily neurotoxic venom injected. Dry bites often result from a near miss or deflection; although the venom an adult coral snake holds is enough to kill up to five adults, it cannot release all its venom in a single bite. Historically, however, the mortality rate was estimated to be about 10–20%, with death occurring in as little as one to two hours, or as much as 26 hours after the bite. This is not that surprising, since the LD100 for humans is estimated to be 4–5 mg of dried venom, while the average venom yield is 2–6 mg with a maximum of more than 12 mg. This is probably why current standard hospital procedure in the U.S. is to start with antivenin therapy for coral snake bites, even if there are no symptoms yet .

Wyeth discontinued the manufacture of coral snake antivenin in 2010, citing a lack of profitability.