Why are there no sea snakes in the Atlantic ocean?

And although they're not powerful swimmers, they have spread throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans, ranging from Japan to New Zealand and from South Africa to Central America. But there is a glaring gap in sea snakes' near-global distribution: the Atlantic Ocean. read more

But there is a glaring gap in sea snakes’ near-global distribution: the Atlantic Ocean. “Why there are no sea snakes in the Atlantic is a question we’ve been asking for a long time,” said Coleman Sheehy, Florida Museum of Natural History herpetology collection manager. read more

TL;DR The snakes evolved in tropical Australasia before the Isthmus of Panama closed and there is now no way for the snakes to get to the Atlantic. Sea snakes evolved and started to diversify in Australasia about 6 million years ago (mya). read more