Name the Bay Critter Contest!

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"Ack! That claw I ate is trying to escape!" The first reader to correctly identify this denizen of the Bay watershed will win a free Chesapeake Bay Foundation T-shirt. To compete, post your guess in the comment section below.

 

UPDATE:  It is an Eastern Hellbender Salamander, a.k.a., a  Giant Salamander, eating a crayfish. And the winner is: Paul from Annapolis! Paul, email your T-shirt size and mailing address to me at tpelton@cbf.org, and I'll mail you your prize.

Eastern Hellbenders are big, thick salamanders that live in fast-moving streams.  Normally, they come out at night, and they love to eat crayfish (as seen in this photo).  

They can live 30 to 50 years, and grow up to nearly 30 inches in length.

Because they depend on high oxygen levels in water to survive, they are a good indicator of the water quality of a stream.  Hellbenders breathe through their slimy skin, so they are highly vulnerable to pollutants in waterways.  If you find hellbenders, especially young hellbenders, you know you've found a relatively healthy stream.

But because so many streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are polluted, hellbenders are also in trouble.  The federal government has listed them as a "species of concern," and Maryland has listed them as an endangered species.  This means they are not extinct yet, but we could lose them if we don't take steps to protect them.  It is illegal to kill or possess a hellbender in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and other states.  For more information, click here, here or here.

By Tom Pelton

Photo by Neil Ever Osborne of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Paul from Annapolis]

That is a Hellbender isn't it?

[Laura Davis]

american eel?

[Janet Sturgis]

Cryptobranchus alleganiensis

[Janet Sturgis]

Giant salamander

[David]

looks like a green moray eel

[David]

I retract that - the moray is not this flat...

[Paul Eidman]

Eastern Hellbender salamander eating a Crawfish

[Michael DeFries]

Snakehead

[Judy Furlow]

Looks like a hellbender to me.

[Cathay Crosby]

Eastern Hellbender Salamander or Giant Salamander (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis)

[Zach]

mudpuppy! (necturus maculosus)

[Tina Miller]

Grouper?

[Jim Chrzanowski]

Green aquatic vine snake.

[Kelley Jonske]

Mondy the seamonster! Just ask Captain Chesapeake

[Jenn]

Eastern Hellbender

[Mary]

Eastern Hellbender Salamander

[Kathy S]

Giant eastern Hellbender salamander

[Becki]

hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis)

[lisa robbins]

hellbender

[Richard Record]

That is a Eastern Hellbender, eating a Crafish. Or a Giant Salamander (cryptobranchus alleganienis) eating a Crawfish>

[Kelly Davis]

Hellbenders are listed as Endangered in Maryland and are sensitive to mining activities. Unfortunately, an underground coal mine permit was approved last year in Western Maryland. The coal mine discharge threatens the survival of hellbenders in the Casselman River.

[Kelly Davis]

To learn more visit .. .. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Plants_Wildlife/rte/rtehellbender.asp and http://dev.www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/ap/md-issues-final-approval-for-casselman-coal-mine-104153768.html

[Tom Pelton]

Thanks very much for the info, Kelly

I did not know that, about the mining permit and the Casselman River. That is disturbing that Maryland would approve such a permit. Did DNR object? I’m surprised the US Fish and Wildlife Service or other federal agencies did not weigh in. Or did they?

If anyone out there knows, please let me know.

[Tom Pelton]

Here is an Associated Press story on the subject of hellbenders and acid mine drainage pollution from coal mines in Western Maryland:

...................

10/01/10 2:45 PM EDT

HAGERSTOWN, MD. — Maryland environmental regulators said Friday they have issued the final state permit for an underground coal mine that would tunnel beneath the Casselman River near Grantsville, upstream of a popular trout-fishing section of the western Maryland waterway.

Project opponents said they will challenge the Department of the Environment's decision favoring mine operator Maryland Energy Resources LLC, a subsidiary of Joseph Peles Coal Co. of Indiana, Pa.

Approval of the water discharge permit followed the Department of Natural Resources' withdrawal of an objection that water pumped from the mine into the river could harm two state-endangered species downstream — the hellbender salamander and stonecat catfish.

To address that concern, the permit limits the discharge to 144,000 gallons of water per day, less than 30 percent of the 500,000 gallons the company sought. Any increase in the permitted discharge rate would require further DNR evaluation of the potential harm to the endangered species.

The permit also requires continuous monitoring of the river's pH and flow, hourly temperature readings from May 15 to Sept. 30 and quarterly biomonitoring. To avoid acid mine drainage, which can kill virtually all aquatic life, the mine must be designed and operated in such a manner that water cannot passively flow out of the mine.

The conditions didn't satisfy opposition leader Steven Putman, of Glenelg, whose family owns 48 acres near the mine site. Putman said his group has twice documented sediment runoff into the river from the company's preliminary construction work.

"Clearly, this issue warrants immediate action on the State's behalf to protect this river," Putman said in a letter Friday to Department of the Environment Secretary Shari T. Wilson. "As we have stated before in previous correspondence with your department, it is our assertion that this permitee lacks the experience and stewardship commitment to protect the river from the adverse affects of their mining operation."

Joseph Peles didn't immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press.

The mine would extract an estimated 360,000 tons of coal annually for 20 years from deposits beneath about 3,000 acres south of Grantsville. It would be Maryland's largest working deep mine.

Peles said previously it could take three to five months from the issuance of the permit to the start of mining operations.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://dev.www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/ap/md-issues-final-approval-for-casselman-coal-mine-104153768.html#ixzz1EzWEeGKa

[Moncler Sverige]

I'd actually love to review these boxes on my shopping/lifestyle blog. i wonder if they'd send me a sample box to talk about?