Costa Rica Water Snake

About the Costa Rica Water Snake

Hydromorphus concolor, also known as the Costa Rica water snake, is a snake of the colubrid family. It is moderately-sized, growing to lengths of 690 mm (27 in) for males and 797 mm (31.4 in) for females. It is widely distributed in Central America from Guatemala south to Panama. It inhabits freshwater rainforest streams in dense lowland and premontane rainforests. It feeds on small crabs, frogs, fish, and Atya shrimp. It is classified as being of least-concern on the IUCN Red List.

The German naturalist Wilhelm Peters formally described the species Hydromorphus concolor in 1859 based on a specimen from Costa Rica, erecting the genus Hydromorphus for it in the same publication. In 1942, the American herpetologist Emmett Reid Dunn described the species Hydromorphus clarki based on specimens from Panama, but that species was subsequently synonymized with concolor. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word meaning "uniformly colored", alluding to its unicolor dorsal coloration. It has the common name Costa Rica water snake.

Costa Rica water snakes are moderately-sized, growing to lengths of 690 mm (27 in) for males and 797 mm (31.4 in) for females... Wikipedia →