Today’s photo of the week is of a banded sea krait.

Sea kraits are occasional visitors to New Zealand’s waters but they are considered a native species because they arrive here naturally on ocean currents.

Sea kraits spend part of their time on land, drinking fresh water and laying their eggs there.

They are likely to be accidental visitors as New Zealand is outside their normal tropical range. They are found abundantly in the reef systems around Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, and their usual prey is eels.

 Photo by Tom Gruber | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.