The hellbender has hit the headlines again recently as legislators move to make it Pennsylvania’s official state amphibian. Here’s a look at the animal and the reason some want to elevate it to special status in Pennsylvania.

The eastern hellbender is the Americas’ largest salamander. It can reach 12-29 inches in length and weigh as much as 5 pounds at maturity.

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It has a large, flattened body with thick folds of skin running along its sides, a single open gill slit on each side, short legs with 4 toes on the front legs and 5 on the back, and a keeled tail, which is used for propulsion.

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It is generally thought that the hellbender was named for its appearance. One theory holds that the first Europeans to see the North American amphibian thought it was “a creature from hell, where it’s bent on returning.” Another theory has European settlers seeing the undulating skin of the hellbender and being reminded of the “horrible tortures of the infernal regions.”

Other common names for the animal are Allegheny alligator, devil dog, grampus, lasagna lizard, Leverian water newt, mud devil, mud dog, snot otter and water dog.

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Although there is a subspecies – the Ozark hellbender – the species is the only member of the genus Cryptobranchus and one of just three species in the family Cryptobranchidae, which also includes the Chinese and Japanese giant salamanders.

Those are the 3 largest living amphibians, with the American giant ranking No. 3.

Salamanders of Pennsylvania: 22 species

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Hellbenders have lungs, but they are mostly non-functional, vestigial organs. They absorb as much as 95 percent of their oxygen through their skin, mostly through the folds and wrinkles along its side.

With that breathing mechanism, hellbenders require clean, fast-moving streams and rivers.

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The hellbender is a clear indicator species for clean water. It cannot survive in anything less, which is why the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Pennsylvania Student Leadership Council pressured state legislators to name the animal Pennsylvania's official state amphibian.

“These salamanders rely on cold, clear, and swift-running water for survival. But the loss of forested buffers along these waterways is resulting in warmer waters and silted streams, degrading the hellbender's habitat. In total, roughly 19,000 miles of Keystone State rivers and streams are polluted, and hellbenders are quickly vanishing from the region,” wrote Emma Stone, then president of the council.

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Legislation to do just that passed in the state Senate, but stalled and died in the state House of Representatives, where competing legislation was introduced to instead make the Wehrle’s salamander Pennsylvania’s amphibian.

Legislation supporting the hellbender re-emerged in the Senate last week, when it was unanimously approved by the State Government Committee and moved to consideration by the whole Senate. If approved there it would move to the House, where no competing Wehrle's salamander legislation has been introduced this time around.

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Designation as a state animal would not bring an additional protection to the hellbender in Pennsylvania. We already hunt our state animal, the white-tailed deer, and our state bird, the ruffed grouse; fish for our state fish, the brook trout; cut our state tree, the eastern hemlock; and kill our state insect, the Pennsylvania firefly, with pesticides.

While the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the hellbender as “near threatened” with a decreasing population, the species is not on the U.S. endangered species list nor on Pennsylvania’s list of species endangered or threatened in the state.

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Designation of the hellbender as the state amphibian would be a tool for raising awareness about clean water and the healthy forests that help to keep them clean.

According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, about 19,000 miles of Pennsylvania rivers and streams are polluted.

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The eastern hellbender occurs beyond Pennsylvania. The species’ range runs from central New York west to Illinois and south to northeastern Alabama. An isolated subspecies, he Ozark hellbender, is found in Arkansas and Missouri.

Across its range, the hellbender is found only in fast-moving, well-oxygenated, unpolluted streams and rivers.

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Crayfish are its primary prey, but the hellbender also feeds on other invertebrates and fish. It’s an ambush predator, laying in wait under rocks on the bottom of the stream with just its head exposed and then lunging at any prey that happens by.

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The hellbender is mostly nocturnal, spending daylight hours hidden under large, submerged rocks.

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Hellbenders live mostly solitary lives. But during the fall breeding season they have been found in congregations of a dozen or more.

Males clear nest chambers under large rocks and then attract or herd females into those chambers.

Each female lays 2 long strings of 200-400 eggs into a nest chamber, with the male fertilizing them as they’re deposited. The male then drives the female from the nest chamber, where he broods and guards the eggs until they hatch 68-75 days later.

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Newly hatched larvae are about 1.25 inches long. They are highly vulnerable to predators and won’t reach maturity for another 5-7 years.

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A hellbender can live as long as 25 years in the wild, and much longer when protected in captivity.

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