An international team of scientists led by Dr Kate Sanders
from the University of Adelaide, and including Dr Mike Lee from the South
Australian Museum, has uncovered how some sea snakes have developed 'shrunken
heads' - or smaller physical features than their related species.
Their research is published today in the journal Molecular
Ecology.
A large head - "all the better to eat you with" -
would seem to be indispensable to sea snakes, which typically have to swallow
large spiny fish. However, there are some circumstances where it wouldn't be
very useful: sea snakes that feed by probing their front ends into narrow, sand
eel burrows have evolved comically small heads.