Hellbender Fieldwork

Well its official, I got a small grant though the Zoo to do some population assessments on hellbenders in PA. Basically I will be going to a couple of sites where they were known to occur 10-20 years ago and determining if they are still there and at what levels they still occur. If I can find any signs of reproduction I will also be documenting the reproduction. Basically, this year and next year, I will be turning rocks and hopefully catching the bender, weigh, measure and sex it(If possible), get a gps recording and release it back under the same rock. I will also be documenting stream habitat as well as levels of siltation.
So if I get lucky I may have some pictures to post.

Ed

PS: for those who may be interested there should be new shirts offered through the CIG. Each shirt purchased helps to fund research like that seen on the CIG website.

Ed

Congrats Ed, publications await

[Mike East]

Hi Ed,

Congrats, that is great. Hopefully you'll find a number of the populations have recent recruitment.

I saw talk at this year's ASIH/SSAR/HL joint meetings on hellbender deformities. The speaker documented a high frequency of large open sores, tumors, and missing limbs in the population he was studying. I don't recall if he mentioned finding evidence for recent reproduction in that population.

Mike

Hi Alan,
The big fear is that the publication will end with the following line, no hellbenders were located in the stream....

Hi Mike,
I saw a similar lecture at the 2003 Hellbender conference and if was the same person then that population also showed no signs of recruitment.

Ed

Good luck Ed. For the past three years I have unsuccessfully searched for hellbenders in my area of the New River in SW VA (I just want to see one in the wild - no intent of collecting). I often speak with fishermen on these outings and many times hear anecdotal reports of sightings however I have yet to see one myself.
Chip

Congrats Ed! Need any help?

Hi Foster,

There is a free pdf article on hellbenders in WVA here http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
The author's name is Humphries. Don't expect any locality data as the researchers have really tightened up giving out any information due to poaching (there are records of up to 200 benders being removed from one stream and sold including marked animals from study sites....)

Well at this time depending on the stream, the entire population in a stream may be contained in an area a mile long, it can be very difficult to find them.
In one stream in Maryland, the researchers had to flip on average 1800 stones/bender.
The best anecdotal report I have heard about benders is one guy who called them "snot otters".
Hi Ralf,
Not this year (but who knows what the future will bring).

Ed

Congrats Ed!!! Sounds very cool. I'd also certainly be more than willing to volunteer a weekend for rock flipping

great news ed! make sure to count your fingers and toes each night after work!

Congrats Ed!

I would definitely be interested in this year's CIG t-shirts.

I still wear my t-shirt proudly! And so do some other Belgian and Dutch people who got this t-shirt. Keep us up dated on the field work and good luck!

I just acquired (well, won on ebay; not in hand yet) an antique lithograph that is a plate from a book on animal kingdom by Cuvier from 1800s and the plate shows 2 animals and a tail section and is entitled salamander-axolotl-hellbender. Not sure which is supposed to be which, as the axie has no gills. I had not heard until then of hellbenders, and now, serendipitiously,(sp?)I can read about them here. Hope your search goes well--good luck. Do you have any info on how the name hellbender came about?

Ed,
Thanks for the link to the article. I printed a copy and look forward to adding it to my upcoming vacation reading.
Chip

Are you associated with Oglebay's research in the Ohio River valley? They're doing pretty much the same thing....

Hi John,
No I am not. There are multiple studies going on in many states to check the status of the historical populations and it would be difficult to affiliate everyone.
For example, in PA, the Pittsburg Zoo is surveying the Allegany River and drainage while I am starting work on the Susquehanna and its drainage.

Hellbender populations are in trouble pretty much throughout thier range and most of the data comes from 15, 20 or even 30 years ago with little or no followup. What is occuring now is a rush to get the follow up done and evaluate conservation and research needs going forward.

Ed

Ed,
Thanks again for the article, I found it to be very informative. In keeping with the same topic I had an interesting hellbender hunt earlier this evening. I was out at one location that I have been frequenting (only because it was a hot spot years ago) and began talking to a couple of fishermen. They asked me what I was looking for (since I had no fishing gear and was wading with a headlamp). I told them that I was searching for waterdogs (long ago I learned that replying with the term hellbender generally only caused a blank expression). These two fellows went on, like many others, to tell me that they have caught many (on hook) over the years but have not seen any for several years. One of them then asked me if I was aware that they were more properly called hellbenders. After a pause he then asked me what I would do with one if I found it. I told him that while it would be intriguing to keep one in captivity this would require way more of an elaborate and expensive setup that I can provide. I added that the populations are already under enough stress without any added pressures from collecting and that I only wanted to observe one outside of a public aquarium. I added that given the time I would be interested in doing more field work with this species with conservation being the ultimate goal. At this point he and his friend looked at each other and then asked me if I knew where a particular creek location is. I said yes and they went on to say "there are lots of hellbenders there". I thanked them and immediately drove out to this location. It was already dark when I arrived and the water was murky. I did a quick scan of the area (no hellbenders) and plan on returning this weekend during the day (in order to get a better idea of the general landscape). In any case even if this turns out to be a dud I am impressed by the fact that these two fishermen seemed genuinely interested in our local hellbender populations.
Chip

Hi Foster,
A lot of fisherman are either interested or become interested when they are told that if hellbenders are gone that is a good indication that types of fish can no longer survive in those waters.

Ed

Ed,
I have now made several trips out to the "hot spot" that the aforementioned fishermen told me about. The stream changes from clear, ankle deep flowing water to a murky, over my head drop off (which I found out in the most direct way possible) with a very muddy bottom. No hellbenders yet but I have seen (and been nibbled on by) fish, bullfrogs, and two snapping turtles - one of which was so huge that it would give Gamera a run for it's money! Anyway, despite the claims of the fishermen this does not look like what I would consider hellbender habitat.
Chip

Hi Foster,
If you go to a spot and it had a muddy/mucky bottom then you really don't even have to turn any rocks. Even a moderate amount of siltation is a pretty good indicator that the hellbenders will no longer be found in that region of the stream.
Are you looking in a region that is within the region where mudpuppies are found? I have seen fishermen misidentify these two species.
Everytime I have flushed a snapper in the wild, it was this giant moving rock that swam madly away usually scaring me because what I thought was a rock is suddenly mobile.

Ed

Ed,
No mudpuppies in my part of the state. They are west of my location. You are right about the snappers. I generally like to consider myself as not being afraid of much in general however running up on a large, potentially aggressive turtle (especially in it's habitat) can certainly cause a scare.
Chip