but lack the typical black vertebral stripe of other species in the genus. Its body is medium-sized and has a long slender tail. It has a blackish upper lateral zone with pale spots and its head and snout are moderately acute. Each of its two front limbs have five fingers while the two back limbs have five toes. Its ventral area is cream in colour with some randomly scattered darker spots that differ between individuals. Its throat is white with darker black patches. There is minor sexual dimorphism within the species resulting in the females having a slightly longer snout-vent length and the males to have proportionately longer limbs and heads. It should be noted however that the difference in SVL between females and males is not statistically significant. There is a significant difference in shape between sexes of both adult and neonate E. quoyii. In adult male water skinks the distance between the forelimbs and hindlimbs, or the trunk length, are typically shorter than females. Males are known to have longer limbs, wider heads and a greater mass than females of the species. In male E. quoyii specimens; forelimb length, head width and overall mass all increase significantly more quickly with increased SVL growth than in females. However, this does not apply to hindlimbs or trunk length which both increase at the same rate in females and males as the SVL increases. In neonates, body shape is much more similar between the sexes with the exception of the female trunk length which is significantly longer than the male counterparts. Within the Eulamprus complex several features are shared by all species including E. quoyii. Individual organisms' nasal passages are separated medially while they do not have any supranasal and postnasal scales. Individuals have two subequal loreal scales and a single preocular scale with a moveable lower scaly eyelid. The iris and pupil are both black and are indistinguishable from each other during the skinks life. The Eastern water skink has three presubocular scales, one of which penetrates downwards in front of the scales on the upper lip and upper jaw. The Eulamprus species show two or three scales beneath the eye and four above the eye, these are called subocular and supraocular scales respectively. Some of the supraoculars will be in contact the frontal scales. Two or three postocular scales lie behind but in contact with the eye and sit