OHIO – When you think of a salamander you think small cute and about 6 inches in length, thats not the case with this robust water dweller rare to Ohio that scientists are trying to help make a comeback.
The Eastern HellBender native to Ohio, is a salamander like mentioned above but averagely gets around a foot to foot and a half long, and is known to get up to two feet long! Hellbenders unlike other salamanders are completely aquatic and live in only really clean water. So finding one in a high flowing stream is actually a really good thing. The Hellbender feeds on insects, worms, minnows and crayfish.
Sadly this amazing creature is listed as endangered in Ohio and thats why Ohio Natural resources is working to reestablish this creature into our streams to attempt a comeback for the salamander.
This week over a dozen Hellbenders were released into central Ohio stream that was determined to be clean enough to sustain life. The crew placed each hellbender under a rock, a natural habitat for the salamander, in hopes for it to establish itself.
According to Ohio Department of Natural Resources, money to bring back the Hellbender population came from fishing licenses and wildlife legacy stamps. More info on that here: https://oh-web.s3licensing.com/?fbclid=IwAR1HUMWzVzsKFwjI0C6OiCYlKP1np502RtgrL_9iLirCBnS1sIl-CTOY7pU
