Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus)

Note vertical pupils.

Incredibly beautiful ventral pattern on this individual.

Cottonmouths frequent stream banks and logs along streams.

Cottonmouths swim with their heads out of the water, and their bodies ride high in the water, very different from non-venomous water snakes (like the Northern Water Snake) in North Carolina whose heads barely protrude and whose bodies are mostly under water.

Found along the roadside draped under a dead Redbelly Water Snake (roadkilled or victim of the Cottonmouth itself?), this Cottonmouth was one of the largest and fattest I've ever seen.

Note the vertical pupils, an indication that this is one of North Carolina's six species of venomous snakes.

The Eastern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus) is the subspecies found in North Carolina.

Some individuals are mostly chocolate brown with little pattern.