More Captive Hellbender Reproduction At St. Louis Zoo!

[Wayne SW/MO]

Great news!! I saw two in the 70's and 80's in the Niangua, but I've fished it off and on for almost 60 years.

[Greasy B]

I have never caught one yet while fishing and am waiting for the day.

I don't think catching one is the idea. They are not game or a non game animal to be used for sport or food. Simple observation would be a worthy goal.

[Mitch f]

I was fishing a crawfish crankbait 1/2 below Boiling Springs on the Gascy and caught one that size about 10 years ago. I hooked it on the side of the head, but I kind of doubt it was going after the lure, think I just accidentally snagged it

[Outside Bend]

It's pretty neat to think that a decade ago we had no idea how to breed these guys in captivity, and now we're starting to see some pretty consistent results- kudos to the folks with the patience and the resolve to figure it out.

I know many of the folks working with hellbenders have been worried about illegal harvest for the pet trade. I wonder if captive breeding will someday be able to alleviate that stress on the wild populations.

[junkman]

I don't know if they were hellbender's or not, but my cousins and I used to catch what we called mud puppies out of the local muddy creaks around here. What was intimidating was trying to get the hook out of there mouth, for it doesn't look like a cat fish mouth in there.

[Tim Smith]

I don't know if they were hellbender's or not, but my cousins and I used to catch what we called mud puppies out of the local muddy creaks around here. What was intimidating was trying to get the hook out of there mouth, for it doesn't look like a cat fish mouth in there.

Mud puppies are pretty awesome too, but they're a different, smaller species. I've seen a few of those, but not recently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necturus

[Wayne SW/MO]

It's pretty neat to think that a decade ago we had no idea how to breed these guys in captivity, and now we're starting to see some pretty consistent results- kudos to the folks with the patience and the resolve to figure it out.

I know many of the folks working with hellbenders have been worried about illegal harvest for the pet trade. I wonder if captive breeding will someday be able to alleviate that stress on the wild populations.

Aren't there a lot of environmental stresses on them?

[Outside Bend]

Aren't there a lot of environmental stresses on them?

Yep- there's a fungus that some think may be contributing to the decline, and lots of folks are worried about sewage/livestock effluent, hormones, antiobiotics, etc. But apparently many hellbenders are being collected from the wild and sold as pets here in the states as well as abroad. You can read a little about it here: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/ah/2007/00000004/00000003/art00002

[Wayne SW/MO]

Taking anytthing from the wild for a pet should have a penalty to be serious enough to really deter it.

[Justin Spencer]

Yep- there's a fungus that some think may be contributing to the decline, and lots of folks are worried about sewage/livestock effluent, hormones, antiobiotics, etc. But apparently many hellbenders are being collected from the wild and sold as pets here in the states as well as abroad. You can read a little about it here: http://www.ingentaco...000003/art00002

I doubt there are enough to make it worth anyone's effort now to collect them, but because it takes them a while to mature, I'm sure this jump started the decline.