Water Monitor in Salvinia Weed

A common lizard in the waterways of Sri Lanka - even in urban areas. I took this photo less than 100m from my house in the city of Colombo. It grows to about 6 feet long has a tough leathery scaled skin and can inflict a serious wound with the whiplash action of its sharp edged tail.

Salvinia weed, aka water hyacinth, clogs up miles and miles of waterways, canals, rivers, lakes etc especially during the prolonged rainy months that come with the south west monsoon from June to August, on the west coast of Sri Lanka. The plant, a floater, cannot normally survive in the brackish water of the tidal reaches of rivers where salinity level remain high with the daily influx tidal sea water. However during the monsoons the flow of the rivers is strong with with sweeter fresh water flowing down from the mountains and the weed then proliferates rapidly clogging and slowing river flows and causing floods in the city during torrential rains.