wes_von_papineäu
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INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) 21 July 09 On the slimy trail of hellbenders (Ad Crable)
Pity the poor eastern hellbender. Cool name, bad rap.
This secretive, long-living salamander that can grow to more than to 2 feet long and reach 4-5 pounds, is one of the least-known creatures of its size in Pennsylvania.
And horribly misunderstood.
Heck, even look at its name. No one seems to know its origin anymore, but some say it's because the slimy, mud-colored amphibian is so ugly it's surely bent for hell.
Then there was the widespread persecution. It was believed — inaccurately — that hellbenders lived on small gamefish and trout eggs and would slime fishing lines, rendering them ineffective.
It was thought they were ferocious and their bite poisonous.
For the record, they eat mostly crayfish with a few minnows sprinkled here and there, are amazingly docile and shy and even if one bit you, you wouldn't get sick.
Strictly nocturnal, you most likely will never see one, though they do occasionally get hooked by anglers that use worms or other live bait.
Known variously as water dogs, mud devils and Allegheny alligators, hellbenders were hunted down and reviled, even by the forerunner of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission that now is required to protect them.
Especially in the 1930s, they were chased with gig poles and caught with 100-hook trotlines.
Hellbenders were once common in Lancaster County and other tributaries of the Susquehanna River, as well as the river itself. There may still be some here, but no one knows for sure and few care enough to find out.
Fortunately, Dr. Peter Petokas, a biology professor at Lycoming College, and some of his students feel differently.
On a breezy morning last week, the 6-foot-4 Petokas and student interns Gwen Forestal, Max Olsen and Tracy Curtis slide into wet suits and snorkel gear and wade into a gravel and boulder stream about 15 miles north of Williamsport, Lycoming County.
For six years, Petokas has been searching for hellbenders in the major tributaries that feed the West Branch of the Susquehanna River to assess the salamanders' population, health and habits.
Of the 21 streams Petokas has checked, he's found hellbenders in six. Many others are polluted from acid mine drainage.
This pocket of stream is in one of the six, and hellbenders have been found in such numbers that it's probably one of the most productive hellbender locations in the United States.
Hellbenders need fairly deep, moving and relatively good-quality rivers and streams. But even more crucial are large, flat boulders that they hide and nest under.
Petokas and Olsen approach a large slab. They each insert a lumberjack's peavey, the utensil used to turn over felled trees.
The two women, circling the rock, dunk their masked heads underwater, ready to spot any flushed hellbender.
They have an underwater flashlight and a block of wood to wedge under rocks in case the peaveys lose their grip. That's happened twice, pinning arms, but no one has been hurt.
With a grunt, the men pry up the rock. "Ummph! Uumph," Forestal grunts from underwater.
"Hellbender! Hellbender! Get a bag!" Petokas translates.
For a moment, the sophomore biology major's feet are thrust into the air as she spurts for the bottom. Then she is topside with gloved hands triumphantly clutching a hellbender.
Without the rubber gloves, it would be impossible to hold the slimy salamander. The slime is the amphibian's main defense and tastes obnoxious to would-be predators.
The creature was slipped into a bright yellow mesh diver's bag and sunk to the bottom with a lead weight and bright fishing bobber. The hellbender will be retrieved later and the exact location of the capture will be recorded on a GPS unit.
For now, though, the four hellbender hunters bounce from promising rock to promising rock like an aquatic game of pinball.
If Petokas wasn't doing this work, there's a good chance no one would be checking into the location and status of these prehistoric creatures.
He became fascinated with hellbenders as a graduate student at Binghampton University in New York state. He was enthralled at this unlikely salamander that lives entirely underwater and has a lifespan of 30 years or more. They breathe not by lungs but by absorbing air through the skin.
Eastern hellbenders live only in North America and are not related to any of the other 21 species of salamander in Pennsylvania. Rather, they are cousins to the giant salamanders of China and Japan that grow to 5 feet and weight up to 100 pounds.
Historically, they were found up and down the Appalachians, from southern New York to Mississippi and west to Missouri, in streams at elevations less than 2,500 feet. The Ozark hellbender lives only in parts of Missouri and Arkansas.
In Pennsylvania, they lived in the Susquehanna, Ohio and Allegheny river drainages.
It's true they are not pretty. They kind of look like eels with toes — five pink ones on the back feet and four on the front. They have beady little eyes and a paddle tail. They don't swim but walk on the bottom.
When Petokas came to Lycoming University six years ago, he was invited by a colleague to a scuba-diving class. Petokas politely declined.
"But you'll see hellbenders."
"Sign me up."
Indeed, Petokas and his assistants dive for hellbenders in deeper streams.
"I like working with an animal that's understudied and extremely secretive and somewhat elusive," Petokas says of his pursuit of hellbenders.
Not on this day, however. Despite the cold water, the team snags 18 adult hellbenders in two hours. During the six-day survey of 600 feet of the stream, they catch 89 adults and three juveniles. The largest is 21½ inches long.
Of the 89, 25 had been captured before. The researchers know this because most adults are tagged with a tiny glass-encased radio-transmitter tags, similar to ID tags commonly used on dogs and cats, that is inserted under the skin.
"These animals are kind of like family to us. I don't even like tagging them," Petokas admits.
When a scanning wand is passed over a tagged hellbender, it sends an identification number to the device.
After lunch, the interns haul the captured hellbenders in buckets from the stream to a makeshift outdoors lab. Petokas and the interns measure and weigh each untagged individual and note any deformities.
Before they are released back at the exact rocks of their capture, a swab of their slime is taken with a Q-Tip. A lab will check the DNA for presence of a deadly fungus that has been killing amphibians since the late 1990s.
It was first found in hellbender populations in Missouri in 2006. The next year, Petokas confirmed reports that the flesh-eating fungus was in hellbenders in Loyalsock Creek. He's found dozens of dead hellbenders there, presumably killed by the fungus.
So far, the fungus has not been found in the other five streams he's found with hellbenders.
But, along with acid mine drainage pollution and illegal catching of hellbenders by collectors, the chytrid fungus is one more bullet to dodge for a creature we know precious little about.
There's been talk of putting hellbenders on an endangered list. But there's still more documentation to do before that would happen.
Hellbenders are protected in Pennsylvania and may not be killed or removed from the wild.
Though research funds are drying up, Petokas is determined to keep studying hellbenders and would like to expand his search to other parts of the state.
In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if they are living in the Susquehanna itself in free-flowing areas of boulders and bedrock. But searching the vast river would be next to impossible, so he'd concentrate on tribs.
As far as immediate conservation for hellbenders in Pennsylvania, Petokas would like to see stream restoration projects in areas where hellbenders are present to maximize habitat. He'd like to see the state develop a conservation plan.
Hellbenders could be raised from eggs in labs and released in suitable streams in hopes of starting new colonies.
If you come across a hellbender or think you know a stream where they live, contact Petokas by e-mail at petokas@lycoming.edu. Or go to his hellbender research Web site at http://srv2.lycoming.edu/~petokas.
http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/240079
Pity the poor eastern hellbender. Cool name, bad rap.
This secretive, long-living salamander that can grow to more than to 2 feet long and reach 4-5 pounds, is one of the least-known creatures of its size in Pennsylvania.
And horribly misunderstood.
Heck, even look at its name. No one seems to know its origin anymore, but some say it's because the slimy, mud-colored amphibian is so ugly it's surely bent for hell.
Then there was the widespread persecution. It was believed — inaccurately — that hellbenders lived on small gamefish and trout eggs and would slime fishing lines, rendering them ineffective.
It was thought they were ferocious and their bite poisonous.
For the record, they eat mostly crayfish with a few minnows sprinkled here and there, are amazingly docile and shy and even if one bit you, you wouldn't get sick.
Strictly nocturnal, you most likely will never see one, though they do occasionally get hooked by anglers that use worms or other live bait.
Known variously as water dogs, mud devils and Allegheny alligators, hellbenders were hunted down and reviled, even by the forerunner of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission that now is required to protect them.
Especially in the 1930s, they were chased with gig poles and caught with 100-hook trotlines.
Hellbenders were once common in Lancaster County and other tributaries of the Susquehanna River, as well as the river itself. There may still be some here, but no one knows for sure and few care enough to find out.
Fortunately, Dr. Peter Petokas, a biology professor at Lycoming College, and some of his students feel differently.
On a breezy morning last week, the 6-foot-4 Petokas and student interns Gwen Forestal, Max Olsen and Tracy Curtis slide into wet suits and snorkel gear and wade into a gravel and boulder stream about 15 miles north of Williamsport, Lycoming County.
For six years, Petokas has been searching for hellbenders in the major tributaries that feed the West Branch of the Susquehanna River to assess the salamanders' population, health and habits.
Of the 21 streams Petokas has checked, he's found hellbenders in six. Many others are polluted from acid mine drainage.
This pocket of stream is in one of the six, and hellbenders have been found in such numbers that it's probably one of the most productive hellbender locations in the United States.
Hellbenders need fairly deep, moving and relatively good-quality rivers and streams. But even more crucial are large, flat boulders that they hide and nest under.
Petokas and Olsen approach a large slab. They each insert a lumberjack's peavey, the utensil used to turn over felled trees.
The two women, circling the rock, dunk their masked heads underwater, ready to spot any flushed hellbender.
They have an underwater flashlight and a block of wood to wedge under rocks in case the peaveys lose their grip. That's happened twice, pinning arms, but no one has been hurt.
With a grunt, the men pry up the rock. "Ummph! Uumph," Forestal grunts from underwater.
"Hellbender! Hellbender! Get a bag!" Petokas translates.
For a moment, the sophomore biology major's feet are thrust into the air as she spurts for the bottom. Then she is topside with gloved hands triumphantly clutching a hellbender.
Without the rubber gloves, it would be impossible to hold the slimy salamander. The slime is the amphibian's main defense and tastes obnoxious to would-be predators.
The creature was slipped into a bright yellow mesh diver's bag and sunk to the bottom with a lead weight and bright fishing bobber. The hellbender will be retrieved later and the exact location of the capture will be recorded on a GPS unit.
For now, though, the four hellbender hunters bounce from promising rock to promising rock like an aquatic game of pinball.
If Petokas wasn't doing this work, there's a good chance no one would be checking into the location and status of these prehistoric creatures.
He became fascinated with hellbenders as a graduate student at Binghampton University in New York state. He was enthralled at this unlikely salamander that lives entirely underwater and has a lifespan of 30 years or more. They breathe not by lungs but by absorbing air through the skin.
Eastern hellbenders live only in North America and are not related to any of the other 21 species of salamander in Pennsylvania. Rather, they are cousins to the giant salamanders of China and Japan that grow to 5 feet and weight up to 100 pounds.
Historically, they were found up and down the Appalachians, from southern New York to Mississippi and west to Missouri, in streams at elevations less than 2,500 feet. The Ozark hellbender lives only in parts of Missouri and Arkansas.
In Pennsylvania, they lived in the Susquehanna, Ohio and Allegheny river drainages.
It's true they are not pretty. They kind of look like eels with toes — five pink ones on the back feet and four on the front. They have beady little eyes and a paddle tail. They don't swim but walk on the bottom.
When Petokas came to Lycoming University six years ago, he was invited by a colleague to a scuba-diving class. Petokas politely declined.
"But you'll see hellbenders."
"Sign me up."
Indeed, Petokas and his assistants dive for hellbenders in deeper streams.
"I like working with an animal that's understudied and extremely secretive and somewhat elusive," Petokas says of his pursuit of hellbenders.
Not on this day, however. Despite the cold water, the team snags 18 adult hellbenders in two hours. During the six-day survey of 600 feet of the stream, they catch 89 adults and three juveniles. The largest is 21½ inches long.
Of the 89, 25 had been captured before. The researchers know this because most adults are tagged with a tiny glass-encased radio-transmitter tags, similar to ID tags commonly used on dogs and cats, that is inserted under the skin.
"These animals are kind of like family to us. I don't even like tagging them," Petokas admits.
When a scanning wand is passed over a tagged hellbender, it sends an identification number to the device.
After lunch, the interns haul the captured hellbenders in buckets from the stream to a makeshift outdoors lab. Petokas and the interns measure and weigh each untagged individual and note any deformities.
Before they are released back at the exact rocks of their capture, a swab of their slime is taken with a Q-Tip. A lab will check the DNA for presence of a deadly fungus that has been killing amphibians since the late 1990s.
It was first found in hellbender populations in Missouri in 2006. The next year, Petokas confirmed reports that the flesh-eating fungus was in hellbenders in Loyalsock Creek. He's found dozens of dead hellbenders there, presumably killed by the fungus.
So far, the fungus has not been found in the other five streams he's found with hellbenders.
But, along with acid mine drainage pollution and illegal catching of hellbenders by collectors, the chytrid fungus is one more bullet to dodge for a creature we know precious little about.
There's been talk of putting hellbenders on an endangered list. But there's still more documentation to do before that would happen.
Hellbenders are protected in Pennsylvania and may not be killed or removed from the wild.
Though research funds are drying up, Petokas is determined to keep studying hellbenders and would like to expand his search to other parts of the state.
In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if they are living in the Susquehanna itself in free-flowing areas of boulders and bedrock. But searching the vast river would be next to impossible, so he'd concentrate on tribs.
As far as immediate conservation for hellbenders in Pennsylvania, Petokas would like to see stream restoration projects in areas where hellbenders are present to maximize habitat. He'd like to see the state develop a conservation plan.
Hellbenders could be raised from eggs in labs and released in suitable streams in hopes of starting new colonies.
If you come across a hellbender or think you know a stream where they live, contact Petokas by e-mail at petokas@lycoming.edu. Or go to his hellbender research Web site at http://srv2.lycoming.edu/~petokas.
http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/240079
