Eastern Hellbender

Description:

Lifer, and one that meant a lot to me! This is the largest salamander in North America, and the 3rd largest in the world. I found 2 individuals this day, the first being about 16 inches long and the second at 22 inches. They are a fully aquatic salamander and have a flattened body that allows them to fit easily under rocks and logs in the water. They have baggy skin around the mid-section of the body to increase surface area for respiration. Their eyes are reduced as they don't use them very much, they have a lateral line (similar to fishes) that allows them to feel changes in the water.

Habitat:

Only found in NC in the western part of the state, they inhabit cold water streams and rivers. I found these two in a high elevation river with water somewhere in the 50F range. The first one was seen crawling out of the water onto a log (which is really weird for this species, they don't normally crawl out of the water). The second one I found by looking along the edges of rocks and logs in the water, he was just walking on the bottom of the river next to a very large rock. They are supposed to be nocturnal, but I hear a lot of people say they find them active during the day. The pin was just placed in a random location in western NC. Not only was I not driving and really had no idea where we were besides "somewhere in the mountains", this is a species of special concern and its location should be protected.

Notes:

This species is rapidly declining throughout its range. To make matters worse, all evaluations of populations are finding that greater than 90% of individuals are greater than 20 years old, meaning they are having very little or no recruitment. Many are afraid this species is doomed in the wild, and it will be a sad day when the last one is gone.