Cottonmouth

About the Cottonmouth

The Cottonmouth is a heavy-bodied venomous pit viper of Texas waters, dark olive-brown to nearly black, often with faint banding. The head is thick and blocky with a dark cheek stripe, and the namesake threat display - mouth gaped wide to show the startling white interior - is its trademark warning.

Cottonmouths hunt fish, frogs, and other small animals along swamp edges and slow water, and unlike the harmless watersnakes they are often confused with, they tend to stand their ground rather than flee. Swimming cottonmouths ride high with the head well out of the water, another useful field mark. Bites are serious but the snake is not aggressive; nearly all incidents involve people reaching or stepping where they should not.

In Texas the species belongs to the eastern half of the state - river bottoms, swamps, and stock ponds - reaching west along rivers into the central counties.