Northern water snake The belly also varies in color. It can be white, yellow, or gray. Usually it also has reddish or black crescents. The northern water snake is nonvenomous and harmless to humans, but superficially resembles the venomous cottonmouth and is often killed unnecessarily as a result of this mistaken identity. The two can be easily distinguished by morphological traits: the water snake has a longer, more slender body and a flattened head the same width as the neck, round pupils, and no heat-sensing pits. The cottonmouth has a fatter body, a wedge-shaped head with prominent venom glands that are wider than
Fauna of the United States and the eastern worm snake. Snakes limited to the southeast includes the southeastern crown snake, pinesnake, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, coral snake, pygmy rattlesnake, southern copperhead, water moccasin, eastern coral snake, eastern indigo snake, southern hognose snake, coachwhip snake, banded water snake, brown water snake, green water snake, "Nerodia clarkii clarkii", salt marsh snake, mole kingsnake, pine woods snake, glossy crayfish snake, striped crayfish snake, short-tailed snake, swamp snake, rim rock crown snake, rough earth snake, southern black racer, rough green snake, western rat snake, eel moccasin, and the mud and corn snakes. The eastern fence lizard is common throughout the