Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganienis, or the Eastern Hellbender, is found in the eastern states: western North Carolina and Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, southern Indiana, northern Georgia and Alabama, and southern New York and Pennsylvania. They live in clear, fast-paced streams and rivers where the oxygen is rich in the water. This makes them a big indicator species because they only live in healthy waterways. If the crayfish population is up, the river is free of chemical or silt runoff, and the water has plenty of movement; there will be Eastern hellbenders.
They commonly prey on crayfish, and they also eat some insects, worms and minnows. Their only predators for juveniles would be snapping turtles, watersnakes, and large predatory fish. Adults only have humans as predators. They can grow to as big as two and a half feet. They are closely related to the Ozark hellbender, which is found in Missouri and Arkansas. The difference between the two is that the markings on the backs of Ozarks are larger than the Eastern's.
The Eastern hellbenders mate in autumn by having a male make a nest in the bottom of the river and leading females into the nest to lay their eggs. The males fertilize the (150 to 450) eggs immediately and the female will leave the eggs to be protected by the males. The males will have to viciously fight off other hellbenders, all while waving their flat tails to push oxygenated water down to the eggs.
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