More than 1,000 water snakes were found in the Pearl River on Wednesday, a rare phenomenon for a river that has few snakes.

Most of the snakes were tangled together.

Their colors varied and lengths ranged from 30 to 60 centimeters.

Some onlookers unsuccessfully tried to separate them with stones and sticks.

They finally dispersed at about mid-afternoon.

Many people rushed to the river to see the snakes, with some women, seeing so many for the first time, screaming in fright.

Onlookers netted more than 200 of the snakes in about 20 minutes. The reptiles were so tangled that one netting could catch 30 snakes.

It is rare to see so many water snakes in the Pearl River, because water snakes usually stay in shallow water.

Some witnesses said the abnormal movement of the snakes might have been connected to the Indonesian earthquake that killed up to 1,000 this week but others thought they might have been lost while being transported.

Most witnesses and wildlife experts believed that someone had bought the snakes to mark the Pure Brightness Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, on April 5.

Many people would buy tortoises and water snakes and return them to rivers before the Tomb-Sweeping Day, they said.

Water snakes cost from 12 yuan (US$1.5) to 16 yuan per kilogram in Guangzhou.

The snakes would probably die because the Pearl River was too dirty and too deep for snakes, experts said.

Experts advised people to consult animal relief centers before returning reptiles to the wild.

(Shenzhen Daily April 1, 2005)