This is the weird and wonderful tentacled snake that I found in Thailand...

The tentacled snake or tentacle snake (Erpeton tentaculatum) is aquatic, and rear fanged, and for the science nerds, it is the only species of the genus Erpeton. The two tentacles on its snout are a unique feature among snakes, and something I have not seen before.

Here it is out of the water, with a droplet on its tentacle.

In situ, hunting for fish.

According to my guide it lives its entire life in murky water, this one in a drainage canal in Bangkok, and they can stay submerged for up to 30 minutes. It is unique in that it is the only species of snake to possess twin "tentacles" on the front of its head, and our word for today......which have been shown to have mechanosensory function, as they use them to catch fish. It is not dangerous, with small rear fangs, and the venom seems particular to the fish they catch.

OK, lets get into its unique catching method....as you can partly see in my in situ picture, the tail is used to anchor the animal and once a fish swims near the area of its head the snake will strike by pulling itself down in one quick strike.

Back to the studies and science reports, that using of high-speed cameras it appears that the snake actually anticipates the movements of the fish as it attempts to escape. As the fish swims into range, the snake creates a disturbance in the water by moving part of its body posterior to the neck. This disturbance triggers an escape reflex in the fish, in which the fish contorts its body into a "C" shape. Normally at this point the fish would swim quickly away from the disturbance by quickly straightening its body, but the snake grabs it, usually by the head, anticipating its movement, so by this clever action the snake catches the fish by tricking them into reflexively attempting to escape in the wrong direction.Unlike most predators, the snake doesn't aim for the fish's initial position and then adjust its direction as the fish moves, it heads directly for the location where it expects the fish's head to be. Clever reptile eh....?