South Florida coral snakes

Among the world's most beautiful snake species, the slender, tri-colored, ringed, Eastern coral snake, Micrurus fulvius (no subspecies today) is usually an easily recognized serpent.

Throughout most of its mainland range (coastal North Carolina to extreme eastern Louisiana, unless an aberrant example like melanistic or albinistic), the coral snake is of rather standardized appearance. The oft times heard ditty of "red to yellow kill a fellow, and red to black venom lack" aptly describes the snake.

The identification based on color can be a little tricky on the southernmost tip of the Florida peninsula and Key Largo. It was in those areas that the snake was and is of different enough color to have been once (but no longer) designated a subspecies that was called Micrurus fulvius barbouri.

The difference is that in southern Florida, the red rings are often noticeably widened and, except for the first well-defined yellow ring, the yellow rings are less prominent than on typical examples of the Eastern coral snake. In some cases, rather than being precisely delineated, the broad red bands may shade gradually to yellowish-red, a characteristic that can be confusing if unexpected.

Please compare the pictures included with this blog and rely less on the pattern and expected color to identify this dangerously venomous micrurine snake. As an aside, the red to yellow rhyme can lead you far astray in Latin America where very few coral snake species have the two caution colors (red and yellow) touching.

More photos below...

The first is often the only yellow ring that is well defined on some southern Florida examples of the Eastern Coral Snake. This is a "typically" colored Eastern Coaral Snake from north Florida.

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.