Comment from Daphne Oberon
Yes, more like a sly crocodile! Very clear storytelling photo. I don't like messing with gators and crocks or attacking Guatemalan water snakes, so glad it was you and not me who took it! Thanks for sharing! Daphne Oberon (PS ever heard of snakes that run at you on top of the water? I have asked many naturalists and no one seems to know about them. I wonder if it was a Guatemalan phenomenon...

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 Comment Written 22-Sep-2018

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reply by the author on 22-Sep-2018

thanks so much again;
I've seen some in Indonesia: they have a very small mouth, can bite only between the fingers; but..if they bite, it is more Dangerous than cobra venom 100% death!

reply by Daphne Oberon on 22-Sep-2018

You are the first person ever who seems aware that such a reptile does exist. The ones in the mountain rivers in Guatemala were black. Thank goodness they also had a thin yellow stripe because they were hard to see in the shade. They behaved like cobras on the water, slithering their bodies sideways from side to side while the head remained high off the water and arched like a cobra. They would come flying at me from upriver with the help of the current when I crossed on my horses, and did not seem easily scarred. I carried long horse whips to beat them with but eventually gave up on that because they would dust dive and come up again in an even more business frame of mind! I never got rid of the various ones the same way. Each instance was different. Mostly I tried to hurry out of the river, but I threw my hat on one, confused one by lassoing it around the head and releasing the rope.... quite an experience! Do you know the name of the Indonesian variety?? Thanks... Daphne Oberon

reply by the author on 22-Sep-2018

no idea; they are water snakes, living only in water like fish;
very different from land snakes that can swim very fast;

reply by Daphne Oberon on 22-Sep-2018

I have no idea if the ones I mentioned were land or water, but I kind of think they were most likely land snakes that could also swim very fast. While I am at it, I never saw these creatures myself, but the old locals talked about phosphorescent fish being washed out of the moths of underground rivers that emerged from the mostly limestone mountains. This supposedly happened after big storms. They said they were always dead, but extremely colorful, like parrots, and without normal eyes, just long feelers/tentacles -- like cat fish I suppose. I wished I had seen one but never did. Have you heard of anything like that elsewhere? Daphne Oberon

reply by the author on 22-Sep-2018

since they lift their head to breath, they are land snakes;

reply by Daphne Oberon on 22-Sep-2018

Excellent point!