Gerard's water snake or the cat-eyed water snake (Gerarda prevostiana) is a species of water snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

 found in Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

.

Diet

They feed almost exclusively on crabs, which they tear into bite-sized pieces by pulling them through their coils, in contrast to most other snakes which swallow their prey whole.

Description

Frontal a little longer than broad, shorter than its distance from the end of the snout, or than the parietals; loreal slightly longer than deep, a little smaller than the nasal; one pre- and two post-oculars; temporals 1+2; upper labials 8, fourth entering the eye; 4 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are much larger than the posterior. Scales

Snake scales

Snakes, like other reptiles, have a skin covered in scales. Snakes are entirely covered with scales or scutes of various shapes and sizes. Scales protect the body of the snake, aid it in locomotion, allow moisture to be retained within, alter the surface characteristics such as roughness to aid in...

in 17 rows. Ventrals 146–158; anal divided; subcaudals 31–34. Uniform dark olive above; three outer rows of scales whitish; upper lip white, rostral dark olive; ventrals and subcaudals whitish, with dark edges.

Total length 41 cm (16 inches); tail 5 cm (2 inches).

Distribution

India, Myanmar (= Burma), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippine Islands (?), Bangladesh, west Malaysia, and Singapore