Erpeton is a genus of water snake of the family Colubridae, which includes a single known species, the tentacled snake, Erpeton tentaculatum. They are aquatic and extremely fast in catching their prey, small fish. The snakes accomplish the capture of their pray by cheating on a C-start escape reflex of the fish: after approaching a fish the snake bends, and makes a quick movement with a measured segment of its body, startling the fish exactly in the direction of snake's head.