Description
Mud snakes grow to an average of 40 to 54 inches (1-1.4 m) in length, with the record being over 80 inches (2 m). They have smooth, glossy, black back scales, with a red underside that extends up the sides to form bars of reddish-pink.
Their heavy bodies are cylindrical in cross section, and their short tails have a terminal spine. Their head scalation is distinctive in that they have only one internasal, no preocular, and one anterior temporal. Ventrals 168-208; anal plate divided; subcaudals 31-55.
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