Snakes in Japan
Japan has several venomous snake species, of which the mamushi and the Okinawa habu are the deadliest. As per the IUCN Red List, four of the reptiles in Japan are considered endangered, including the Kikuzato’s brook snake. The Okinawa habu or hime habu is the country’s largest, reaching a maximum length of around ten feet. Japan has an abundant population of sea snakes found in the seas of Okinawa along the coral reefs.
| Groups | Venomous | Non-venomous |
|---|---|---|
| Coral Snakes | Japanese Coral Snake MacClelland’s Coral Snake | – |
Sea Kraits | Blue-banded Sea Krait Black-banded Sea Krait Yellow-lipped Sea Krait | |
| Hebius | Pryer’s Keelback | Japanese Keelback |
Rhabdophis | Tiger Keelback | – |
| Calamaria | – | Collared Reed Snake Pfeffer’s Reed Snake |
| Elaphe | – | Beauty Rat Snake Japanese Four-lined Ratsnake Japanese Rat Snake King Ratsnake |
Euprepiophis | – | Japanese Forest Rat Snake |
| Lycodon | – | Loo-choo Big-tooth Snake Japanese odd-tooth Snake Asian King Snake Ruhstrat’s Wolf Snake Ryukyu Mountain Wolf Snake |
| Ptyas | – | Ryukyu Green Snake Sakishima Green Snake |
| Emydocephalus | Ljima’s Sea Snake | – |
| Hydrophis | Annulated Sea Snake Slender-necked Sea Snake Ornate Reef Snake Short Sea Snake Stoke’s Sea Snake Viperine Sea Snake Yellow-bellied Sea Snake | – |
| Opisthotropis | – | Kikuzato’s Brook Snake |
| Ovophis | Okinawa Pit Viper | – |
Gloydius | Mamushi Tsushima Island Pit Viper | – |
| Indotyphlops | – | Brahminy Blindsnake |
Protobothrops | Taiwanese Habu Sakishima Habu Tokra Habu | – |
Achalinus | Amami Odd-scaled Snake | Formosan Odd-scaled Snake Japanese Odd-scaled Snake |
