Hellbender Salamander

I caught this big slimy salamander in a stream in the woods. It told me of its carefree life in the river, and we shared a coke and had a good laugh about a Steve Martin bit from "Wild and Crazy Guy." Then the conversation took on a more serious tone, and we discussed at length the demise of western civilization, and the hubris and greed of modern man. Then we parted ways, I to my promotional Tillamook cheese van, and he to his entourage of slime coated lady-salamander lovers.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• salamander
• hellbender

[SternyCam]

Witch state do you live in?

[youngmanwithaham]

@SternyCam Hey I live in California, but was out visiting my sister and getting married (not to my sister) in Maryland when i found this lil guy.

[andyxparty]

i love this description.

[MisterAlterEgo]

This is really cool. Hellbenders are awesome and misunderstood creatures that are sadly dying out; now only found in cold, remote, northeastern streams. I live in Maryland (prime 'bender habitat) and sadly have never seen one. Thanks for sharing this encounter and letting the little guy go on his merry way.

[HummelsUnderwaterDsc]

Beautiful animals. I have spent my entire undergraduate studies conducting research on Eastern Hellbenders in Pennsylvania. However, some of the comments posted have false facts. For example, the Hellbender does not weigh twelve pounds. On average, they weigh roughly three to five pounds. Second, trout is not among the diet of the Hellbender. Actually, stocked trout is a natural predator to the Eastern Hellbender during their juvenile stage. Little Mahoning Creek still has a steady population.

[zebracornking]

Wow they are frickin' huge!

[abdonovan12]

here in Arkansas..you would be in deep shit if anyone saw you handling a hellbender like that. They are critically endangered...and feared to be extinct in parts of the state.

[s46d45m17]

I caught several of these about 30 to 35 years ago in Indiana county Pa on little mahoning creek I can remeber a big one that was about 20 inches long and may have weighed 12 pounds, when they stocked trout in the creek you could see the hellbender eating them swallowing them whole like a snake would almost but their jaws would flatten them out as the trout was ate we just let the ones go we caught, I don't see any these days though.

[Blackclaw1000]

looks like a kolasuchus only smaller :)

[scottg429]

@youngmanwithaham hey i am from maryland too what area did you find him in

[thefatbear101]

Damn

[singingcera]

@StefyStuff Sure they should, they're a North American endemic species.

[megazion34]

they look alot like giant japaneses salamanderss but alot smaller