HELLBENDERS!

[MoCarp]

as a kid living on Shoal Creek, my brother and I catching crawfish, we caught 2 hellbenders...amazed at this huge amphibian we learned they can bite the crap out of you! we released them unharmed, to this day I wonder if there are any left in that stretch of the river....so when I came across this video thought I would share.

 

 

[timinmo]

MO, thanks for posting.  For any that don't know, the St. Louis Zoo and MDC started the first captive breeding program in the world for the Ozark Hellbender.  You can tour the facility but I think you need to set it up in advance.  I do not have a contact person.  A couple years ago MSA was able to set up a couple tours for members, as well as nonmembers.  I think all of us who did the tour were very impressed.  Unfortunately at this time it seems they are fighting an uphill battle.  

[Johnsfolly]

4 hours ago, timinmo said:

Unfortunately at this time it seems they are fighting an uphill battle.

You may be right. It seems that once these species begin declining it's hard to find out what are the reasons for that decline. In this case any number of non-point source pollutants, habitat loss, changing landscape usage around key streams, etc. can be the factors. So just reintroducing young animals may not be enough to keep the species intact.

I just read a disturbing article about the closure of caribou sport hunting for Quebec caribou due to the precipitous decline in the two major herds. One of those two herds may never recover.

[timinmo]

John, as the film touched on, siltation is one of the problems,there are others.  I'm sure any of us that have fished Ozark streams for years can remember when many of the riffles consisted of large rocks.  Presently many of the northern Ozark streams I fish have gravel riffles with the big rock being covered with gravel.  A sampling of macroinvertebrates is much lower in gravel than large rocks and I guest that is what is happening to the Hellbenders.  When we toured the people at the Zoo told us they had more Ozark Hellbenders there than were in the wild.

If we had enough interest I think we could see about setting up another tour.  Let me know if anyone is interested.  You do not have to be a MSA member.

 

[Johnsfolly]

I would definitely be interested. Just never know for sure when I will be back out East for another extended stay for work.

[Tim McDougald]

I would be interested.

6 hours ago, timinmo said:

John, as the film touched on, siltation is one of the problems,there are others.  I'm sure any of us that have fished Ozark streams for years can remember when many of the riffles consisted of large rocks.  Presently many of the northern Ozark streams I fish have gravel riffles with the big rock being covered with gravel.  A sampling of macroinvertebrates is much lower in gravel than large rocks and I guest that is what is happening to the Hellbenders.  When we toured the people at the Zoo told us they had more Ozark Hellbenders there than were in the wild.

If we had enough interest I think we could see about setting up another tour.  Let me know if anyone is interested.  You do not have to be a MSA member.

 

 

[MoCarp]

many streams in our area have had gravels washing in covering large rocks, I think it can be abated in some areas by using gold dredge type equipment and removing gravel and restoring some areas to the base rock, I know in my area they are looking for hellbenders, if you see any please notify your area biologist, some areas may get hellbenders re-intoduced once they have them figured out...I was lucky to have seen and handled these interesting critters,.

[timinmo]

We need four or five and they like to keep groups to 6 or less.  It will be during the week.  I will start trying to get it set up.   If you could message me dates that you can not go it would help with planning.

Tim