 Salt marsh snakes grow to a total length of to , and are highly variable in pattern and coloration.Populations of the Gulf salt marsh snake ("N. c. clarkii") from the vicinity of Corpus Christi, Texas, to the Gulf Hammock region of Florida are gray, tan or yellow with four brown to black longitudinal stripes.Populations in Florida from Tampa Bay south to Miami and northward along the Atlantic coast to the vicinity of Cape Canaveral are referred to as the mangrove salt marsh snake ("N. c. compressicauda").