More than 120 juvenile eastern hellbenders were released into a tributary stream in the upper reaches of the Susquehanna River this summer through a groundbreaking program developed by Peter Petokas, research associate at Lycoming College’s Clean Water Institute.
The release into a stream, where the program had previously created prime hellbender habitat, involved young salamanders raised in a lower New York state lab of the Wetland Trust from eggs hatched at the Bronx Zoo.
The hellbender — North America’s largest salamander, capable of growing to as much as two feet in length — was designated Pennsylvania’s official state amphibian in 2019.
Dependent on clean, well-oxygenated, fast-flowering water, the salamander originally was found in rivers and streams throughout the Appalachian Mountains from New York to Georgia, but they have disappeared from most of their range. Pollution, sedimentation, dams, illegal collection and amphibian fungal disease have all taken their toll.
It’s also known as the snot otter, Allegheny alligator, devil dog, mud devil and lasagna sides.
The release of 124 juvenile hellbenders, which Petokas described as an attempt to “restart the species’ populations in the upper portions of the region,” was the second release of 3.5-year-old salamanders hatched and reared in captivity. A total of 99 hellbenders were released in 2018.
Plans for yet this year call for additional eggs to be collected in the wild, hatched and reared for release at 3.5 years.
According to Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky, who helped with the most recent release, the hellbenders were tagged with tracking tags before their release. The tags are powered by a solar panel near the release site.
They will be monitored to develop data to help determine the status of the hellbender population.
Petokas, who has seen two populations of hellbenders disappear in the 15 years he has studied the species in Pennsylvania and New York, estimates that 95% of the species’ habitat in the Susquehanna watershed no longer exists.
For more information, visit Lycoming College’s Hellbender Conservation Campaign webpage.
And, for more information on the fight for protections for hellbenders and their habitat, visit the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper hellbender webpage.
