The eastern hellbender, a slimy, mud-colored creature that ranks as the largest salamander in Indiana and the nation, may be federally listed as an endangered species.
Nicknamed the “snot otter,” it is already on the endangered list in Indiana.
In fact, in 2023, researchers at Purdue University celebrated finding the first officially documented juvenile Eastern hellbender in Indiana since at least the 1980s, the IndyStar reported at the time. The larval stage hellbender, about two inches long, was found in the Blue River in southern Indiana. It boded well for a recent multi-state program known as the Hellbender Project to raise and reintroduce the hellbender in the river, the IndyStar reported.
From the IndyStar: Indiana biologists are finding young hellbenders in the wild for the first time since at least the 1980s
Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has opened a 60-day public comment period, running until Feb. 11, 2025, on a proposal to place the hellbender on the federal endangered list.
You can read the proposal through the Federal Register, linked online here in this story. To comment, visit regulations.gov and search for docket number FWS–R3–ES–2024–0152.
Eastern hellbenders are also found in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
“The eastern hellbender is a unique salamander that plays a critical role in maintaining healthy freshwater ecosystems,” said Will Meeks, Midwest regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, in a news release. “As key indicators of stream and river health, hellbenders need protection that will also help support healthier ecosystems throughout their range.”
Nationwide, Fish and Wildlife reports that groups of eastern hellbenders were once documented in 626 populations, or groups, which had recently dropped to 371 groups. Of these, only 45 (12%) are stable, while 218 (59%) are deteriorating.
Find columnist Joseph Dits on Facebook at SBTOutdoorAdventures or 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Eastern hellbender could be a federal endangered species with a proposal
