Snake ID help

[NicoleMiller]

My friend found this snake swimming in a bay while fishing in Washington State. Have never seen one like this before. He took a video and this is the best still pic I could get from it. Thank you!!

[StudentoReptile]

I'm thinking garter snake.

[smy_749]

looks like a garter to me too

[SSSSnakes]

I'll go along with the Garter Snake crowd.

[drumcrush]

I agree with everyone else

[concinnusman]

Yeah guys but do you realize how many species and subspecies of "garter snake" there are? Over 50 species that I know of, and the species Thamnophis sirtalis alone has 13 subspecies. However, this one is not T. sirtalis. Definitely appears to be T. elegans vagrans, a.k.a. "Wandering garter snake" a subspecies of Western Terrestrial garter snake. Common around the puget sound region as far south as Lewis Co. and north, well into B.C. Canada. Occasionally a northwestern garter (Thamnophis ordinoides) can look similar but they don't get as big and have 7 upper labial scales. T. elegans vagrans has a much bigger head and 8 upper labial scales. I'm confident that's a wandering garter snake.