Waverly Lake Park

[RoadToad]

Well, of course they're right, it's true that when people call snakes water moccasins, they're nearly always wrong (same thing for copperheads), but I don't understand the disdain for the people who refer to the species that way. "Cottonmouth" and "water moccasin" are pretty much interchangeable terms for the same species. A lot of the time they're referred to as "cotton mouth water moccasins." That wasn't John MacGregor that wrote that, was it

yes it was

John MacGregor
Herpetologist - Nongame Program
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
#1 Sportsman's Lane
Frankfort KY 40601

Well, I always THOUGHT those were both acceptable terms for the same species, but if he says otherwise, I guess not.

[KentuckyBristle]

I suspect that you are misinterpreting what the writer meant. I think when he said people use the name "water moccasin" incorrectly, he wasn't saying that's not a proper name for a cottonmouth, but that he meant that people are incorrectly applying the name to water snakes. That's how I interpreted the email when I first read it.


I think "water moccasin" is an even more proper name than cottonmouth, and that cottonmouth is more of a nickname, and that most herpetologists would use the names interchangebly.