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Eastern coral snake

Micrurus fulvius · Snakes · Reptiles

Eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius): Venomous. Red, yellow and black bands with red and yellow bands touching; red bands may be speckled with black. Black snout followed by a broad yellow band across the head. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Micrurus fulvius
Family
Elapidae
In North America
Native
Range
Southeastern North Carolina to southern Florida and west to southeastern Louisiana, disjunctly north to central Alabama.
Biology

How to identify it

Venomous. Red, yellow and black bands with red and yellow bands touching; red bands may be speckled with black. [1][2][3]

Black snout followed by a broad yellow band across the head. [1][2][3]

Slender, smooth scales in 15 rows; adults usually 51-76 cm. [1][2][3]

Nonvenomous mimics (scarlet kingsnake, scarlet snake) have a red snout and red bands touching black. [1][2][3]

Compared with the scarlet kingsnake: Scarlet kingsnake has a red snout and red bands touching black; coral snake has a black snout and red touching yellow. [1][2][3]

Compared with the northern scarlet snake: Scarlet snake has a red snout and a plain white belly. [1][2][3]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a eastern coral snake before you act. Compared with the scarlet kingsnake: Scarlet kingsnake has a red snout and red bands touching black; coral snake has a black snout and red touching yellow.[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Hardwood forest, pine-oak woodland, pine flatwoods and scrub, often on sandy soil; sometimes marsh edges and residential areas. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Secretive: mostly underground, under leaf litter, logs or stumps; solitary outside breeding. [1][2][3]

Mainly diurnal in the north (morning and late afternoon); active all year in Florida, least in winter; males most active March-May. [1][2][3]

Eats mainly snakes and limbless lizards, sometimes frogs and rodents. [1][2][3]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Southeastern North Carolina to southern Florida and west to southeastern Louisiana, disjunctly north to central Alabama.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology

  3. North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission · reviewed 2026-09-30

    North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission