Leaf-scaled Seasnake
Aipysurus foliosquama
Status: critically Endangered
Rainbow Serpent was the name given in 1926 by an anthropologist Professor Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, to a common myth and ancient motif that is shared by many Aboriginal Australian sub-cultures.
It is an enormous snake who lives within the deepest waterholes of Australia's waterways, and descended from a greater being who resides in the Milky Way and marked by a dark streak among the stars. A rainbow arcing across the sky is the Rainbow Serpent moving from one waterhole to the next.
The Rainbow Serpent is a creator and life-bringer, because of the association of water, essence of life, but also can be destruction when angered, and is responsible for both regenerative rains, as well as storms and floods. Before the time of creation, the Rainbow Serpent slumbered in the earth, and upon awakening pushed to the surface, creating mountains and valleys.
References:
Blust, R. (2000). The Origin of Dragons. Anthropos, 95(2), 519-536. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40465957
Radcliffe-Brown, A. E. "The Rainbow-Serpent Myth of Australia". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 56.