They are semiaquatic, and retain the wide ventral scales typical of terrestrial snakes for moving on land, but also have paddle-shaped tails for swimming.

[2] They also have independent evolutionary origins into aquatic habitats, with sea kraits diverging earlier from other Australasian elapids.

[8][9] Laticauda species feed in the ocean, mostly eating moray and conger eels, and some squid, crabs, and fish.

Though they possess highly toxic venom, these snakes are usually shy and reclusive, and in New Caledonia, where they are called tricot rayé ("striped sweater"), children play with them.

[10] Black-banded sea kraits, numbering in the hundreds, form hunting alliances with yellow goatfish and bluefin trevally, flushing potential prey from narrow crannies in a reef the same way some moray eels do.

[8] Several males form a mating ball around the female, twitching their bodies in what is termed "caudocephalic waves".