THE SUN (Jonesboro, Arkansas) 30 October 05 Ozark Hellbenders slaughtered from Spring River (Joy Trauth and Benjamin Wheeler)
Ozark hellbenders are large, ugly, totally aquatic salamanders that have also been called "mud devils" and "ground puppies."
In 1893 it was described as an "extraordinary fish lizard known as the hellbender from its extreme ugliness."
Known as "water dogs" in the 1930s, hellbenders were enthusiastically slaughtered in publicized hellbender roundups because they were thought to be venomous and to eat commercially valuable fish, when in fact they are harmless and their diet consists almost entirely of crayfish.
While its name may derive from its ugly appearance, the Ozark hellbender's flattened head, small lidless eyes, and streamlined, conspicuously wrinkled body look beautiful and unique to many naturalists.
Adult hellbenders usually range between 16 and 20 inches long, but hellbenders up to 25 inches long have been recorded. They vary in color from grayish black to reddish brown and olive green, typically with heavy spotting on their backs.
Hellbenders require cool, clear streams with large flat rocks and boulders. During the daytime, solitary hellbenders remain hidden under the large rocks. At night they emerge and crawl along the river bottom looking for food. Sometimes the food that they find is attached to a trotline, and the hellbender gets hooked.
During the breeding season, males excavate burrows in which females lay their eggs in rosary-like strings over a 2- to 3-day period.
The males then force the females away and tend the eggs themselves by moving their bodies back and forth to increase the oxygen supply to the eggs.
The Ozark hellbender has historically inhabited the upper part Spring River and the Eleven Point River in Arkansas and the south-flowing streams located in southern Missouri.
Another subspecies of hellbender also lives in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern U.S. During the 1970s and early 80s, Ozark hellbender populations in the Spring River were relatively large, but population numbers have drastically declined to the point that the Ozark hellbender is nearing extirpation in the Spring River.
In hellbender surveys conducted in 2003 and 2004, 33 different potential habitat sites on the Spring River were searched; however, only 10 hellbenders were found. They were all older individuals, and all but one of them had multiple abnormalities. The most common abnormalities in Spring River hellbenders are skin tumors, open wounds, fungal infections, necrotic limbs and missing limbs or toes.
One hellbender from the Spring River was recently transported to the St. Louis Zoo where it died; an autopsy revealed the presence of testicular cancer.
During the same period 22 sites on the Eleven Point River were searched, and 96 hellbenders were found including a few juveniles.
Hellbender populations in the Eleven Point River appear to be much healthier than those few remaining individuals in the Spring River, but there are early signs of decline there also.
The specific causes of hel lbender abnormalities and decline in the Spring River remain speculative, but probable causes include habitat alterations related to extensive recreational activities (canoeing, fishing, and swimming), increased siltation (accumulation of suspended material in the water) due to clearing of stream-bank habitat for agriculture, pollution from cattle and industry, and over-collection. Because of their dependence on water, amphibians are frequently considered the proverbial canaries in the coal mine.
Declines in amphibian populations are seen as indicative of declining overall environmental health.
For more information contact the ASU Department of Biological Sciences at biology@astate.edu or visit www .ozarkhellbender.com.
Trauth is a doctoral candidate in environmental sciences and an instructor in the Department of Biological Sciences at ASU. Wheeler is a doctoral candidate in environmental sciences at ASU and an instructor at the University of Arkansas Community College in Batesville.
Ozark Hellbenders slaughtered from Spring River