Brown Watersnake vs. Northern Cottonmouth

The Brown Watersnake is killed as a 'water moccasin' more than any other Virginia snake; both are heavy, brown and blotched, in the same swamps. A: Long and plain brown, the eye on the side with a round pupil; no dark mask and no pit in the Brown Watersnake; broad, flat and blocky, with a dark band through the eye, a vertical pupil and a pit between the eye and the nostril in the Northern Cottonmouth. B: Square blotches set like a checkerboard in the Brown Watersnake; dark crossbands, wider on the sides; old adults nearly plain in the Northern Cottonmouth. A cottonmouth swims with its whole body on top of the water and gapes to show a white mouth; watch either from a distance.

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

More comparisons

• Brown Watersnake vs. Common Watersnake
• Brown Watersnake vs. Plain-bellied Watersnake
• Brown Watersnake vs. Eastern Copperhead
• Brown Watersnake vs. Banded Watersnake
• Florida Cottonmouth vs. Brown Watersnake
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• Northern Cottonmouth vs. Common Watersnake
• Northern Cottonmouth vs. Plain-bellied Watersnake
• Northern Cottonmouth vs. Diamondback Watersnake
• Northern Cottonmouth vs. Mississippi Green Watersnake
• Northern Cottonmouth vs. Eastern Copperhead
• Banded Watersnake vs. Northern Cottonmouth
• Broad-banded Copperhead vs. Northern Cottonmouth
• Florida Cottonmouth vs. Northern Cottonmouth
• Florida Green Watersnake vs. Northern Cottonmouth

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