Ohio Salamanders

The largest amphibian in Ohio is the Eastern Hellbender, with adults averaging about fifteen inches long from tip to tail. They can live in freshwater streams and prefer slower moving currents, as they live on the bottom of the stream bed. Eastern Hellbenders make their homes generally in the south and central areas of Ohio, but have declining populations due to pollution in the waterways. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is attempting to increase the population of these large salamanders by working with zoos in the state. These zoos include the Toledo Zoo and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in 2014. Surveys done in the 1980s suggested, compared to the survey in 2014, that the Eastern Hellbender population has seen a decrease of over eighty percent in only thirty years. Even though female Eastern Hellbenders lay hundreds of eggs each clutch season, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimates that only about ten percent of those eggs survive infancy.

            Together with the two zoos, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources created a breeding program to get wild Eastern Hellbender population at a more stable number. They were able to release two hundred of these salamanders into three Ohio waterways, all from captive breeding pairs. Not all of the salamanders were newborns, about fifty of the specimens released were three years old; 144 of the Hellbenders were born over a period of the two years following. The releasing of the salamanders followed the newly created Ohio Conservation Plan program for species recovery. Eastern Hellbenders used in the program not only came from the Columbus and Toledo zoos, but also from salamanders caught in the wild. The Conservation Plan also called for retaining species diversity to ensure a lasting population in protected streams and rivers. Another part of the plan is to keep the habitats for these salamanders save and free from pollution, so that the numbers may grow in the future.

Alvin Staffan Natural History Collection, 1964-1985, State Archives Series 6565 AV, Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources. Ohio History Connection, Columbus, Ohio.

Resources, Ohio Department of Natural. "Ohio's Hellbender Population Set Up for Success." Ohio Department of Natural Resources. October 9, 2014. http://ohiodnr.gov/news/post/ohio-s-hellbender-population-set-up-for-success.