Hellbenders are completely aquatic salamanders that mostly breathe through their moist, wrinkly skin, which helps them absorb more oxygen from the quick-moving streams they call home. These adaptations have led to some colorful nicknames, including "snot otters" and "lasagna lizards”.

Hellbenders are a major indicator of the overall health of a river or stream. Where you find healthy hellbenders, you find healthy waterways!  In Ohio, eastern hellbenders are listed as an endangered species due to habitat loss and degradation. 

At the Columbus Zoo, we’re dedicated to the conservation of eastern hellbenders, specifically through our participation in The Association of Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) Saving Animals from Extinction (SAFE) program and by supporting the Ohio Hellbender Partnership. 

Scientific Name: Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis

Conservation Status: Vulnerable

Size: Adults generally range from 12 to 27 inches in length

Weight: Up to 2 pounds

Hellbender at the Columbus Zoo
Nutrition
Hellbenders primarily eat crayfish, but will also eat insects, fish, and smaller salamanders. They typically look for food at night.
Current Range and Historic Range
The eastern hellbender's range extends from southern New York, west to southern Illinois, and south to northern Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. A detached population also occurs in east-central Missouri.
Habitat
Hellbenders live in cool, oxygen-rich freshwater streams with large flat rocks at the bottom to use for shelter and avoiding predation.
Predators and Threats
Larval hellbenders and small juveniles are the most vulnerable to predators like fish and adult hellbenders. Herons, egrets, and raccoons predate on larger individuals.

The primary threat to hellbenders is habitat degradation due to human activity. The species cannot handle environmental changes because of its specific habitat needs. Activities like logging, mining, and building roads can increase sediment, covering the loose rocks and gravel needed for nesting, shelter, and food. Dams also block the fast-moving water and cover the rocky areas essential to hellbender survival. Harmful chemicals and polluted water from mining can also negatively affect eggs and larvae. Warmer water from industrial runoff can lower oxygen levels, which is also bad for this species.
Physical Description and Adaptations
Hellbenders are dark brown in color with irregular rust-colored spots. They have flat bodies with loose folds of skin along their sides that provide increased skin surface area for absorbing oxygen from the water. When they hatch from eggs, larval hellbenders have external gills. As they mature, these feathery appendages disappear and the gill slits close. The head is broad and flat, with small eyes and a wide mouth. They have four digits on their front limbs and five on the back, with webbed skin between them for moving through the water. Hellbenders have a muscular, paddle-like tail that allows them to swim against strong currents.
Reproduction
Hellbenders breed in early fall. Males dig out an area under a protective rock where a female lays her eggs. The egg mass is composed of two long, jelly-like strings of 150 to 450 round eggs that clump together in a softball-sized cluster. The male then fertilizes and guards the eggs in the nest until they hatch. He will gently move the eggs around, which keeps them healthy while developing. Once the larval hellbenders hatch, they are completely independent. Adults become mature and will reproduce between five and 8 years of age.
Communication
Hellbenders have a specialized organ in their snouts called a Jacobson's organ, which allows them to smell and interpret chemical cues from predators and other hellbenders. They use pheromones or chemical signals released in the water and physical motions to communicate during mating. Additionally, hellbenders have special receptors along the sides of their body that allow them to sense variations in light, water pressure changes, and vibrations in their environment.
Behaviors
Hellbenders are solitary and will aggressively defend their nests and territories. They are most active between dusk and dawn.