#eastern hellbender

If you are in the biology field and want what looks like a pretty cool job helping Hellbender research and conservation, I just spotted this job opening:

Excerpt from this story from Knox News:

By now, the story of Hurricane Helene is a tragically familiar one: the endless rain, the swollen rivers, the angry water indiscriminately destroying lives and homes. The storm killed more than 230 people across five states, including 104 confirmed dead in North Carolina and 18 in Tennessee.

But humans aren’t the only species whose communities were ravaged by the floodwaters. Helene devastated some of the few remaining healthy populations of an iconic Appalachian species: the eastern hellbender. The species was in trouble even before the hurricane hit. Based on data gathered prior to Helene, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Dec. 10, 2024, proposal to list the giant salamander as an endangered species.

“The best populations across the species’ entire 15-state range were in Western North Carolina,” said Will Harlan, southeast director and senior scientist for the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit based in Tucson, Arizona, that works to decrease threats to biodiversity worldwide. “This was the one place where there were a few populations that were relatively stable and reproducing. Helene changed all that. The very strongholds that were left for hellbenders were exactly the same places that were hit hardest by Helene. That’s just been tragic, and why this listing is even more timely and important.”

Far eastern Tennessee had also held prime hellbender habitat, with populations thriving in the Nolichucky, Holston and Doe rivers, all of which suffered Helene’s wrath. This “critical stronghold” was severely damaged by the storm, Harlan said.

The eastern hellbender, an aquatic salamander whose adults reach an average length of 20 inches - slightly less than two footballs laid end to end - has been in decline for decades. Feeding primarily on crayfish and breathing through its skin, the species is extremely sensitive to environmental degradation. And its long life cycle - hellbenders can live more than 30 years in the wild and need about six years to reach sexual maturity - means that populations can take a long time to recover once degraded.

Eastern Hellbender, 2024

Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis)

(Photo by Lori Williams)

Conservation Status- Near Threatened

Habitat- Eastern and Central United States

Size (Weight/Length)- 2.3 kg; 50 cm

Diet- Insects; Worms; Fish; Snails; Tadpoles; Other hellbenders

Cool Facts- The largest species of salamander in North America, the eastern hellbender is a walking dinosaur. Despite their name, hellbenders lack claws, have tiny teeth that they rarely use, and are overall shy towards humans. They prefer quiet streams and rivers with flat rocks that they can hide under. Once it finds a suitable habitat, it often spends the rest of its life living there. On the rare occasion, a male and female will have overlapping territory. The male digs a nest in a calm area of the river. The female will lay eggs in the nest and the male will fertilize them, being one of the only salamanders that have external fertilization.

Eastern Hellbender - Hagrid