How do sea snakes shed their skin and why do they do it?
Sea snakes shed their skin every two to six weeks, which is more frequent than land snakes and more often than needed for growth alone. To shed its skin, the snake rubs its lips against coral or other hard substrate to loosen it. It then catches the skin against something to anchor it and crawls forward leaving the skin turned inside out behind it. Skin shedding allows sea snakes to rid themselves of marine organisms such as algae or barnacles. If they didn’t shed their skin, the organisms would interfere with the snakes’ ability to swim and could cause disease.
