Mussurana

(Clelia clelia), a nonpoisonous snake of the family Colubridae. The body length measures up to 2.3 m. In young individuals the upper part of the body is pinkish; the head is brown with a transverse, cream-colored stripe on the occiput; and the abdomen is white. Adults are bluish black with a light stripe along the abdomen. Mussuranas are distributed throughout Central America and northern South America. They live along the banks of bodies of water, leading a crepuscular existence. They feed mainly on snakes of other species, including poisonous ones, whose toxins they are immune to. The mussurana lays from eight to 18 eggs. This snake is beneficial to man in that it preys on the highly poisonous rattlesnake.