TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is asking for the public's help in documenting a shimmering, yet elusive, reptile.

The rainbow snake is a large, nonvenomous aquatic snake that's found throughout the Panhandle. FWC said its population has declined in recent decades, but it's sometimes spotted in the St. Marys, St. Johns, and Suwannee river drainages.

There used to be a subspecies population, the Southern Florida Rainbow Snake, that was found only in Fisheating Creek in Glades County, but it hasn't been documented in the area since 1952 and is possibly extinct.

As adults, the snakes can grow up to four feet long and are mostly a glossy black that turns iridescent blue in the sunlight. They have three thin red strips running down the length of the

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