Johnsfolly

MDC announces zoo-reared eastern hellbender found with clutch of eggs on Gasconade River MDC and partners reach yet another milestone to recover endangered hellbender in Missouri. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Roughly a year after a zoo-reared Ozark hellbender successfully fathered a clutch of eggs in the wild, an eastern hellbender has followed suit. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) confirmed the first eastern hellbender raised in human care at the Saint Louis Zoo has reproduced in the wild on the Gasconade River. The news shows MDC’s partnership with the Saint Louis Zoo to recover hellbender populations is creating a bright future for the endangered Ozark and eastern hellbender in Missouri. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to confirm this news about the eastern hellbender,” said Missouri State Herpetologist Jeff Briggler. “Seeing successful reproduction of zoo-reared animals in the wild has been our ultimate goal and our hope is this event becomes more common.” BACKGROUND In Missouri, the eastern hellbender subspecies occurs in the northern Ozark highlands in spring-fed rivers. Missouri is the only place in the world where both the eastern and Ozark hellbender are found. Both subspecies are listed as endangered by the State of Missouri and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Primary threats facing hellbenders are habitat alteration and degradation, over-collecting, disease, predation, and degraded water quality. Hellbenders are long-lived (with a 30-year lifespan), slow-to-mature amphibians that seldom venture far within the river. MDC partnered with the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute Ron and Karen Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation and other agencies in the early 2000s to breed hellbenders in human care and rear eggs collected from the wild in order to reverse population declines. Once the zoo-bred larvae reached between 3-8 years old, they are released in their native Ozark aquatic ecosystem. Biologists began releasing a few zoo-reared hellbenders in Missouri in 2008, later increasing the number of released animals to 1,000 or more per year beginning in 2012. Since the conception of the breeding and raising of this animal in human care, more than 12,000 Ozark and eastern hellbenders reared at the Saint Louis Zoo and MDC hatchery have been released into their native rivers. EASTERN REPRODUCTION This released, male eastern hellbender originated from the collection of eggs in the fall of 2015 on the Gasconade River by MDC, then transported to the Saint Louis Zoo where the eggs were hatched and reared. “Rarely are hellbender nests found on the Gasconade River,” noted Briggler. “Therefore, it was a pleasant surprise to even find a nest, but an overwhelming surprise to learn the father was a released animal.” This male was released into the Gasconade River in June 2018. At the time of his release, he weighed 3.3 ounces (93 grams) and measured 9.3 inches (23.5 cm). At the time he was found guarding a nest in September 2023, he weighed 11.5 ounces (326 grams) and measured 14.7 inches (37.4 cm) in length. “It’s always exciting to know the history and health of an animal after its release,” said Briggler. The eight-year-old animal was a father to a clutch of 86 eggs. Upon a nest check in early October, all of the eggs had well-developed embryos with prominent head and tail buds. The news comes roughly a year after an Ozark hellbender fathered a clutch of eggs on the Current River. “After discovering incidents of both subspecies successfully reproducing in the wild, I’m confident this is going to be something we see all the time,” said Justin Elden, Curator of Herpetology and Aquatics at the Saint Louis Zoo, and Director of the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute Ron and Karen Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation. “This conservation effort shows if given support and patience, these animals can take the lead and ensure they’re around for generations to come.” In addition to the Saint Louis Zoo, MDC partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, National Parks Service, and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to enhance propagation efforts to ensure hellbenders remain a part of Missouri’s biodiversity. “The goal is to set these animals up for success and a part of that is reproducing on their own,” said Elden. “The nests of the Ozark and now the eastern hellbender are confirmation we’re heading in the right direction and we aren’t going to stop now.” Read about the zoo-reared Ozark hellbender who was found with a clutch of eggs in the fall of 2022 from the MDC newsroom at short.mdc.mo.gov/4Qj. To learn more about hellbenders, visit MDC’s online Field Guide at short.mdc.mo.gov/4M9. Find more about the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute Ron and Karen Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation online at short.mdc.mo.gov/4MC.

I had never met him but did have conversations with him through the forum. RIP. Mitch thanks for letting us know.

I'm sure that I could find a micro or two catch as well 😅!

Sure looks cold! Still you guys were able to catch a few and that is always better than the alternatives of not catching any or not even going😉

As always a great job Marty! That program means so much to those guys!

A grind would be the most appropriate description of your trip 😁! Highs and lows, frustrating targets, weather, travel, etc. So much easier to just catch bass😉.

Congrats @Daryk Campbell Sr on getting out and catching some fish! Great to see your recovery progressing to the point t where you can walk those banks. I agree with Al on the species I'd. The shiner may be a striped shiner but hard for me to see its features on my phone. Still looks like you has a great time with your micro rod.

Been thinking about this dish for some time, lamb shank curry. I saved two of the deer shanks from my '21 buck for this recipe. Pretty simple recipe massaman curry can of coconut milk, chicken stock, onion, cinnamon, and star anise. Also a few small potatoes. Braised about 3 hours covered and about 30 to 40 mins uncovered. Didn't have more basmati rice so used noodles. Delicious. Not too much coconut so with some heat as well.

@FishnDave surprised that neither of you caught any oscars. Did you guys see any?

I do have plans to at some point chase down the split redeye bass species in GA and AL and will likely try for the swampland longear at the same time. I have caught the rio grande longear already. Not sure if the Ozark and Ouachita are viable or accepted species in the long run. Of the original 13 Lepomis I still need the Northern and spotted.

Not if you accept the revised longear sunfish split 😉

Australian bass on steroids 😁! Looks like a ton of fun.

The catching the first them have to fight of others happens to us a lot. This crested goby is a really cool fish. I only really started seeing people catching these guys about a year ago. Definitely a bucket list fish along with a whole bunch of sleepers.

Congrats Dave again! That's an awesome catch regardless of bait used let alone a fly!

Congrats Dave! I haven't caught either of these species. So I can understand the excitement right out of the gate.

I hate to say this but you still need to catch one😉. That is a buffalo trunkfish. Piers are such a great place to catch multiple species. Never more true than when fishing in FL. Great job to you and @FishnDave on your successes!

This is a lane snapper. They do look alike with juvenile muttons.

She caught a few doubles using the dart and spoon combo versus me with just the spoon. I'll have to catch her on the next trip😉

Congrats on a successful trip and no need to grind it out 😅. This ozark bass aka goggleye sure wanted a mouthful of shad!😉

It actually was a slower bite than the trip a week prior to this trip. Still so much fun😁

Made the rest of the snakehead in a putanesca style dish following a Hank Shaw recipe. Served with a pine nut couscous and steamed broccoli. Was a delicious dish. Now we need to catcha few more snakehead😁

Susquehanna River/Conowingo Dam I took off an hour early on Friday to try for another shad trip up the Susquehanna River/ Conowingo Dam. We had to stop for gas and some 3/8 oz inline sinkers on the way to fish. Got to the water about 6:45. They were still running some water through the dam. We met Cole again and his brother. They had been fishing since 12:30 and had over forty each by the time we got there. Though they both thought that the bite was not a good as our previous trip. I tied on a chartreuse Neugasser flutter spoon which caught a most of my shad on the last trip. I fished it behind a 3/8 oz inline sinker. Livie had on a green/chartreuse 1/4 oz dart and a green/white glitter spoon. She landed the first shad, a hickory, between us. I caught a hickory as well. I struggled early while Cole, his brother (they both has on silver or silver/green spoons) and Livie were catching two to three to my one. I switched over to a silver spoon and was getting consistent bites (still had some struggles landing a few). I did get the first American shad between Livie and I. Livie followed up with her first Maryland American shad! Around 7:20 they slowed the release further and the water started to fall. Still got bites. Since Livie had a dart/spoon combo, she did catch a couple of doubles which made us glad for the bringing the net. Livie's first double. The tough catch was to net another one of Livie's double hickories and one of the larger American shad that I caught that night. Cole and his brother left after his borther caught his 70th shad for the day. As the water continued to drop the bite slowed as the fish seemed to follow the falling water. We also got hung up in the rocks more frequently. I broke off another spoon and we called it a night at the dam around 8:20 pm. Not as big a bite as our last trip. I still caught 13 hickories and 3 American shad and Livie had 16 Hickories and 2 Americans in roughly an hour and a half to hour 45 mins of fishing. With the falling water we decided to try to microfish the Deer Creek confluence before heading home. Deer Creek / Susquehanna Rvr It was well after 9 pm when we got to the creek and geared up. As expected the creek was running low and relatively clear. I had waders on and was looking for two or three species of darter, shield, logperch and banded, that are found in deer creek. Livie was bank bound and trying for any active minnows. I have not had much luck night fishing for darters so far. This night I found more active fish and was able to catch a couple of nice tessellated darters which is a species I have caught before. As I was darter fishing, I noticed what looked like an eel tail coming out from under a rock. I had Live come over and she put her bait next to the "tail" and it didn't move. She even touched it and it pulled up under the rock and then came back out. At that time Livie noticed the head of the fish on the other side of the rock and it didn't take long to hook up with that eel. Now we were not real successful in geting good photos of that one. She did find a much smaller one in another location and caught that one by hand and into the photo bag! We saw an even smaller one (4 inches maybe) come out of the hole that this one was hiding. I caught one more tessellated before we decided to leave. This guy was the biggest one that I have caught, over four and a half inches. We got home after midnight, tired, but happy for another successful trip.

Congrats on finding those slab crappie! Sure looks like a fun day.

With a BOGO grip and using one hand🤔😅

https://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/76945-choptank-surprise/?do=findComment&comment=701313 Snakehead prepped for the breading stations and fryer. I sliced the fillet into bitesize fingers. Took off the little bit of blood line meat. Snakehead is a firm white meat more like white bass but less of a blood line. So has a more mild flavor. Post-frying. We'll get a bit more adventurous with the other fillet.