Shape-shifting sea snakes - a dynamic story of powerful selection pressures and rapid evolution

Researchers at the University of Adelaide‘s Environment Institute are using comparative approaches to understand how phenotypic diversity evolves by the process of natural selection, using a surprising group of animals: sea snakes. 

Sea snakes, related to Australian venomous snakes such as tiger snakes, are an excellent system to study trait evolution. This video shows us how some sea snakes have evolved a unique body shape - a tiny head atop a narrow fore body with a wide hind body - to exploit the niche of feeding on eels hidden in burrows on the seafloor. 

The research behind this video was led by Dr Emma Sherratt and Associate Professor Kate Sanders. They examined the system from different angles, looking at evolutionary history, morphological change during development, and dietary specialisation, to create a big picture of how these so-called ‘microcephalic’ forms evolved multiple times among other species of sea snake. 

Continue reading this article at the Environment Institute: http://ow.ly/eOR550Aope6

Acknowledgements:

Video by Animate Your Science.
A/Prof Kate Sanders funded by ARC FT130101965
Dr Emma Sherratt funded by The University of Adelaide Research Fellowship
Video supported by Environment Institute and The University of Adelaide Research Fellowship