First Documentation of a Larval Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis) in a Bear Creek Tributary, Mississippi

Emily K. Field^1,*, Calvin R. Rezac¹, Robert J. Ellwanger¹, and Jack C. Creely¹

¹Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, Jackson, MS 39202. *Corresponding author.

Southeastern Naturalist, Volume 23, Issue 1 (2024): N1–N5

First published early online: 12 March 2024

Abstract
Herein we report the first known collection of a larval Cryptobranchus a. alleganiensis (Eastern Hellbender) from Mississippi. We also document an extension of the known range of the species in Mississippi. Nearly all records of Eastern Hellbender in the state are from mainstem Bear Creek except for 1 collection in Pickwick Reservoir in 1981. However, we collected a larval Eastern Hellbender from Cripple Deer Creek, a tributary of Bear Creek, on 11 April 2023 while surveying for fish and crayfish. The individual was collected via kick sampling with a seine behind a half-submerged log. While habitat at the site of discovery did not seem typical of preferred Hellbender habitat, the streambed of Cripple Deer Creek at other locations may contain sandstone and limestone outcrops based on the surface geology of Mississippi. The collection of a wild-caught larval Hellbender is rare but encouraging for the conservation status of this species in Mississippi. Attempts in the last decade to detect Hellbenders in Bear Creek produced a single adult individual in 2015. To the authors’ knowledge, no known studies have taken place within the inaccessible reaches of Cripple Deer Creek, and additional surveys are underway to assess if Cripple Deer Creek supports a reproducing population of Eastern Hellbenders.

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