Hydrophis belcheri, commonly known as the faint-banded sea snake or Belcher's sea snake, is an extremely venomous species of elapid sea snake. It has a timid temperament and would normally have to be subjected to severe mistreatment before biting. Usually those bitten are fishermen handling nets, although only one-quarter of those bitten are envenomated since the snake rarely injects much of its venom. Because of this, and its docile nature, it is generally not regarded as very dangerous.
The belcher's sea snake is of moderate size, ranging from 0.5 to 1 meter (about 20–40 inches) in adult length. Its thin body is usually chrome yellowish in colour with dark greenish crossbands. The dorsal pattern does not extend onto the venter.
The head is short and has bands of the same colours. Its mouth is very small but suitable for aquatic life. Its body, when viewed out of water, appears to have a faint yellow colour. Its scales are different from most other snakes in that they overlap each other. Each dorsal scale has a central tubercle. The body is strongly laterally compressed posteriorly. The ventral scales are very narrow, only slightly wider than the dorsal scales.
Fortunately, the bite doesn't hurt, so you quickly forget about it. However, sea snake venom is a potent neurotoxin, so you soon begin to lose feeling in your lower extremities, stomach, up to your lungs, and you slowly suffocate. Despite this, sea snakes are not usually aggressive and rarely attack humans without provocation; an exception may be during mating season.
Since they primarily eat fish, they have small mouths and very short poison fangs, which are usually too short to penetrate a diver's wetsuit.
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