Shared by Monica Hoel, as Guest Blogger.

Hungry Mother State Park has joined forces with a local FIRST Lego League team out of Abingdon, Virginia in order to offer a good home to a new educational partner: a slimy, wiggly, and much-loved Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis). 

Often called a "snot otter," the Hellbender is actually a salamander with unique characteristics.  

Meet a hellbender at Hungry Mother State Park

The Eastern Hellbender is among the largest in the world.

These Hellbenders can can grow up to two feet long. They are native right here in Southwest Virginia. Unfortunately, they are also a species of concern. Long-misunderstood, they were once killed routinely because they were thought to eat fish from favorite fishing streams. Which in fact, they eat very little fish, but they do enjoy a crayfish or two. The Hellbender has very loose skin that can lay in folds for breathing. This allows them to breathe better, as aquatic salamanders breathe through their skin. 

Hellbenders are often misidentified as mudpuppies, which are a different species. Mudpuppies have external gills versus the folds you see pictured above. Both animals are harmless. Here is a comparison chart as an example of each. 

Hellbenders don't eat with their hands

They can be found lying under large flat rocks with only their tail sticking out as they have many light receptors on their tails. Hellbenders do not use their front feet to grab their prey, instead they open their mouths very quickly which creates a vacuum which sucks in their prey. For all these reasons, they also require clean, fast free-flowing water with many rocks. This habitat is becoming harder to come by in this area.  

If you are fishing and happen to catch a Hellbender, carefully remove the hook and place back in the water. 

Nowadays, all salamanders are seen as one of our best examples of the biodiversity of Appalachia’s natural world. And, they have developed something of a fan club of protectors and researchers who want to do everything possible to ensure a future for these unique amphibians.

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries shares this short video about Hellbenders:

The Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Center located at Smyth County’s Buller Fish Hatchery, has been home to four Hellbenders until recently. 

The eggs were found at a nest that had been abandoned by the male hellbender. The eggs were being raised with the intention of releasing the juveniles back into the streams to help diminishing populations. However, a few of the individuals have tested positive for chytrid fungus over the years. Even though chytrid is in the natural environment and low levels of infection exist in wild populations it was decided that it was safer to never release the captive individuals so they could not spread the disease further. 

Hungry Mother State Park was happy to provide a new home for the Hellbender. 

With an active education program, the park staff saw this as an opportunity to teach the public about the importance of protecting this important species.

                  “Our goal is to help everyone better understand what is needed to protect this rare and wonderful part of our ecosystem,“ says Tanya Hall, Chief Ranger of Visitor Experience at Hungry Mother State Park, “and we’re especially pleased to have the help of the members of Abingdon’s First Lego League team. Without them, we would not have known the Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Center needed homes for their hellbenders, nor would we have been able to provide a home without their generous support.”

Hellbenders may not be handsome but they are valuable to our environment
 

FIRST Lego League gives kids a chance to solve real-world problems by using LEGO MINDSTORM technology. It is basically a way to combine the fun and imagination of Lego building with the applications of science, technology, engineering and math.

The “No Comment Fifth Graders” team in Abingdon was excited to be part of the process of helping Hungry Mother State Park with its new resident, and they’ve provided all the supplies and equipment needed to give the Hungry Mother Hellbender a comfortable home.

BUT HE STILL NEEDS A NAME!

And Hungry Mother State Park staff need the help of the public to solve this dilemma. A contest is underway to choose a name for the Hungry Mother Hellbender: 

Entries will be taken until March 31, 2017. To submit your choice for a name by email click here, or you can mail your entry directly to 2854 Park Boulevard, Marion, VA 24354.

One name from among the entries will be chosen by April 10, 2017, and the winner will receive a photo of the salamander plus the honor of having named our very first Hellbender at the Discovery Center.

Editor's Note: Names posted to this article here, or on Virginia State Park's Facebook page will not be considered an entry. Email your entry here.