Mertens's Water Monitor

About the Mertens's Water Monitor

Mertens' water monitor (Varanus mertensi) is a species of monitor lizard in the family Varanidae. The species is native to northern Australia, and is a wide-ranging, actively foraging, opportunistic predator of aquatic and riparian habitats. It is named after German herpetologist Robert Mertens.

Mertens' water monitor grows to a total length (tail included) of about 2.0 m (6.6 ft). It is dark brown to black above, with many cream to yellow spots. The underparts are paler – white to yellowish – with grey mottling on the throat and blue-grey bars on the chest. The tail is strongly compressed laterally, with a high median dorsal keel, and is about 1.5 times the length of head and body.

Amongst all monitor species, including even the water monitors of the subgenus Soterosaurus, Mertens' water monitor is morphologically the most well adapted to an aquatic lifestyle, being able to seal its upwards facing nostrils when underwater. It is capable of swallowing prey underwater, which is an ability not reported in any other monitor species other than the Borneo earless monitor (Lanthanotus borneensis). It is also the only monitor species reported capable of using its sense... Wikipedia →