Well, it only took about 5 years after the initial invitation, but all of the stars aligned this season and I was FINALLY able to join Kelly Irwin, Arkansas Game & Fish Herpetologist, for a very special herping adventure.  We were accompanied by Chris and Erin of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.

Prior to the couple of days I was able to contribute to the efforts, I believe only 3 specimens had been turned up in 4 field days...not very good.

--- DAY 1 ---

As we prepped to put the boats in the water, I was confounded by the strange wet stuff falling from the sky and the strangely green vegetation.

Kelly and Chris discussed plans for surveying the site.

A pretty typical view of the river.

Quite a lot happened between the last photograph and next.

After some instruction from Kelly and gearing up, I readied myself to exit the boat.  I had scuba-dived many years ago, but, I have to say, that first tumble into 12-15 ft deep, 69 degree F water with 50 lbs of lead strapped on was a BIT trepidatious!

After thumping to the bottom like a rock, I got to my feet and steadied my breath through the regulator.  Then, walked myself downstream along the air hose and to shore where I checked with Kelly that all was good to go.

Back in the water, I was supposed to work the "outside lane" while Kelly worked closer to the shore.  I walked my way out and tried to orient myself to the conditions and acclimate to the equipment.  After about five minutes, I felt like I was really fighting and struggling against the gear...  Without a previous frame of reference, I didn't realize this was not normal, but another couple of minutes and I basically was like "what is going on!??!!!"  I walked myself back to shore and breached the surface.

Everything was a bungled up mess!  For starters, the rain--that looked like it was about ready to break up when we started the dive--had turned into a deluge...accompanied by ample lightning and thunder.  Chris and Erin's boat had lost anchorage and drifted downstream over Kelly's and my air hoses.  Chris was already back in his boat trying to power up the engine, Erin was getting drug downstream by her air hose.  My air hose was tangled up in their anchor line.  Kelly was still underwater, but soon came up to see what the trouble was.  Chris finally figured out he had flipped the kill switch and got his boat back under control.  We all scurried around a bit and got ourselves to shore.  The lightning was popping pretty good by this point.

The worst of the weather blew over very quickly, we reset everything, and were back in business.

The total dive time was pretty short, maybe 20-25 minutes.  I worked my area and saw nothing but bedrock and gravel...not even a single flippable rock.  The others had much better habitat to check and Kelly and Erin both bagged specimens!

And what is this special creature of interest???

Ozark Hellbender

It was kind of miserable eating lunch in a downpour, but by the time we finished the skies cleared a bit and we were able to begin processing the captures:
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1 - Erin, Chris, and Kelly prepare to process the specimen.

2 - Erin transfers the specimen from the collecting bag to a plastic container with the assistance of Chris. Kelly sorts and prepares the processing instruments.

3 - Kelly gives Chris instructions for the first (wet) swabbing.

4 - Swabbing begins at the back feet.

5 - Swabbing continues onto the tail.

6 - Swabbing concludes at the front feet.

7 - The specimen has a particularly raw lesion on the right front foot that demands special attention in swabbing.  The swabbing process is repeated with a dry swab after the wet swab.

8 - After sterilization of the equipment by Erin, Kelly clips a small tissue sample from the tail.

9 - Erin presents the bacterial swab to Chris.

10 - The swabbing process is repeated with a swab specifically for collecting a bacterial sample.

11 - Erin marks the vial containing the bacterial swab sample.  From the wet swab, dry swab, bacterial swab, and tail clipping, the specimen will be tested for chytrid fungus, rhinovirus, and bacterial infection. Blood samples will be collected from other specimens in the upcoming days for additional testing.

12 - Kelly scans the back of the specimen for the presence of a PIT tag. (PIT = Passive Integrated Transponder) A positive result would indicate that the animal has been captured and marked previously.

13 - Kelly continues to scan the specimen from different angles.

14 - Kelly scans up the body of the specimen in the rare event that the PIT tag has migrated. He seems reluctant to accept that the animal is a new capture.

15 - Kelly levels and zeros the scale in preparation for weighing as Chris stands by.

16 - In goes the specimen into the "high tech" pan.

17 - Kelly takes the weight reading...840 g. (According to him, a couple of 1000+ g specimens have been sampled, but this is nevertheless a large female. Males are typically smaller.)

18 - The total length of the specimen is measured...510 mm (20.1 inches).

19 - The SVL (Snout-Vent Length) of the specimen is measured...350 mm (13.7 inches).

20 - Kelly is still not convinced the animal is a new capture. He double-checks the PIT tag scanner and scans the animal one more time. It is, in fact, a new capture.

21 - While Kelly is preparing a new PIT tag, I photograph the first page of the data sheet.

22 - A PIT tag is injected into the newly captured specimen.

23 - The second page of the data sheet.

24 - Kelly photographs the particularly bad lesion on the specimen's front right foot.  After processing (and a few more photographs), the specimen is released at the site of capture.

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Erin, holding her very first Hellbender capture, joins the exclusive "Hellbenders Club"!  Do you think she was very proud?  ;-)  I was only hoping to have similar success.

Unfortunately, lesions like this are not an uncommon sight on the feet of the Hellbenders.  I know chytrid is a contributing factor, but I believe researchers are still trying to sort out between fungal, viral, and bacterial which are the immune-weakening pathogens and which are the opportunistic pathogens.

Plans were made to hit one more small site before the day was over.

Prime habitat for the Hellbender is along rocky shelves where water flow is relatively fast (to bring in fresh oxygen).

Kelly holds his captured bender, a smaller adult male.

I tried to get a few pics of the specimens under more natural conditions, but it was pretty much a disaster.  I had rigged up a homemade underwater housing for my camera a few days prior and started with it, but ran into problems that would require more troubleshooting than we had time for.  I switched over to a borrowed underwater point-and-shoot that Chris and Erin had brought, but was unfamiliar with the camera.  On top of it all, the lighting was very dark with silty water and thick cloud cover.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed to have the animals released without capturing any reasonable photographs, and just hoped for better lighting and more animals upcoming.

The second dive was also pretty short with limited habitat.  I only found 2-3 reasonable rocks to check.  No animals were turned up.

A spot of sunlight did finally shine through and brought out a few basking turtles, such as these young Northern Map Turtles.

--- DAY 2 ---

The day began with more drizzle and cloud cover.  Kelly and Co. were talking of only putting in a half-day of work before taking their weekend break.  I assumed we would be hitting one site and that would be it.  I was crossing my fingers pretty hard.

It was hard to complain having collectively turned up two benders the day before, but many of my personal goals for the trip felt like they were slipping away.  I began to think of the 5 years it took to actually get this opportunity to begin with.  Then, the cloud cover and rain that severely hampered photography efforts the day before.  Then, the minimal habitats I had checked so far.

I felt pretty sure I could turn up an animal for myself (one big personal goal) if I only had some decent rocks to look at.  I felt pretty sure I could get some reasonable photographs (another big personal goal) if only the sun, equipment, and time would cooperate.

Starting down the river, I wanted to document some of the macro-challenges to the Hellbenders and the rivers itself that Kelly and I had discussed the day before.

This is what a river that is dying looks like.  :-(

This was, unfortunately, a not uncommon site along the 2-3 mile stretch of river we traversed.  Farmers clearcut all the way to the river's edge.  Without the stout root system of the trees, the bank erodes; siltation of the river increases substantially.

I just missed photographing one of these cows depositing about 5 gallons of urine and feces into the river.  Add in some fertilizer and pesticide runoff, and you've severely screwed up the chemistry of the water.

What is so frustrating and infuriating is that the farmers are losing every bit as much grazing land to erosion as they would if they left a barrier of trees to begin with.

As the banks erode, additional trees downstream are uprooted.

Countermeasures (breaks of rip rap) were established at only one erosion site.  My understanding is that most of the farmers have refused invitations for help.

What I gathered was that the quality of the river (especially in terms of siltation) had SEVERELY diminished over the years.  Ben Wheeler, who had done quite a bit of work during his time at ASU, had joined up with Kelly a few days prior and was apparently SHOCKED by the degradation.  I didn't really have a frame of reference to compare, but I could definitely see what they were talking about.  Hellbenders need cracks in rocks and good flow rates of water.  Silt fills in cracks and slows the flow rate.  No cracks, no flow = no Hellbenders.  And this isn't even to mention the problems of damming up rivers and issues associated with the stocking of trout.

Mention was made that there is federal funding available for measures such as the erosion control rip rap, but that some bureaucrats in the pipeline did not see Hellbenders as a priority and were not directing the money and resources in that direction.  Chris did seem to think, however--if you can consider this as a positive--that it would be just a very short time before the species is elevated to full Endangered status.

Based on the initial poor surveying results for this season, Kelly was legitimately concerned that he would soon not have enough animals to even justify his long-term monitoring efforts.

...

At the first Hellbender site of the day, we pretty well repeated our efforts.  Overall, the site was pretty small though and the river flow was quite stiff.  I got "blown" downstream into Kelly at one time and basically found myself sitting on top of him.  HA!  I felt kind of bad about that, but that water was STRONG!

Kelly and I worked a little more closely together this time and tag-teamed on a couple of larger rocks.  Kelly later made mention of his suspicions that some of the larger, more ideal rocks had been flipped but not returned suitably.  I guess herpers not returning their rocks is even a problem underwater!

Apparently, the Hellbenders really like larger rocks that sit somewhat flat against the bottom, but with about an inch or two of space to nuzzle underneath.  We spent quite a bit of time at this site repairing and improving the rocky microhabitats.

Unfortunately, we found no specimens.

Kelly did, however, pull up this Northern Map Turtle.

"Alas, poor Graptemys! I knew him."

I figured that would be it for my Hellbendering, but we had been pretty efficient on the day and without specimens to process, the decision to hit another spot was made.  Kelly directed us downstream to a site that had been surveyed two years prior without success.  Honestly, the way it looked above water didn't look all that good to me and I was pretty well conceding defeat before I ever got in the water.

Once I geared up and got underwater, however, it looked pretty good.  There were lots and lots of rock to flip...finally!  The water flow was quite a bit slower and it took a bit more to check the rocks thoroughly because the sediments took longer to clear out after lifting the rocks.

After checking quite a few rocks, I turned up a rock and saw something move under a neighboring rock.  At first I dismissed it as probably another fish, but decided to take another look.  Turns out, it was a nice adult Mudpuppy!  It took some doing to get the slick critter corralled into my bag, but I managed it.  It was my first adult Mudpuppy capture.  Not a bad effort, but it was no Hellbender.

I continued on and shortly after the Mudpuppy find I flipped another rock about the size of a large briefcase.  From the cloud of silt stirred up, this large, dark form swam out!  HELLBENDER!

With visibility only about 2 1/2 to 3 feet, I pushed toward it as mightily as I could, determined to keep it in my sights until I could make a go for it.  It settled down to the bottom after about 8 feet and I positioned myself over it.  I didn't waste a lot of time for fear it would swim off again.

I grabbed it with both hands, one around the pectoral area and the other around the waist.  It squirmed but was not quite as slick as the Mudpuppy.  I pulled it up to my chest which freed one of my hands to ready my collecting bag.

In the bag it went...and success!!!!

I continued on for quite a long time until I felt a triple tug on my air hose...a signal to get out of the water.  There were still rocks to check, but my fingers and toes were starting to turn a little numb.  No wonder; I found out that I had been down for right at an hour!

Chris and Erin were also down for about an hour and Chris turned up a sweet little juvenile.

That, my friends, is MY bender.  :-)  (Turned out to be a recapture, so maybe not exclusively mine...but, it was mine on that day!  HA!)

While the others were processing the bender, I had time to prep my little aquarium to attempt some pics.  I initially planned on just photographing the juvenile since it would fit in the aquarium without obviously giving away that it was in an aquarium, if that makes sense.  I'm glad I tried some of the adult, too, because proportionally the animals looked quite different and the juvenile would show signs of stress after its processing.  The juvenile also regurgitated a crawfish in its bag prior to processing, so I don't think it was feeling all that well.  :-(

Hellbenders are notoriously difficult to photograph anyway, and the conditions I was working with were certainly less than ideal, but overall I'm pretty pleased with what I got.

I think this was probably the best one of the adult.

The Mudpuppy was also sampled for chytrid.  I'm not sure what other data were collected, but less than what was done for the Hellbenders.

After processing, the Mudpuppy was photographed in the little aquarium.

Then the juvenile Hellbender.  It was estimated to be maybe 4 years old or so.

After releasing the animals at the site and wrapping it up, we headed back upstream.  With the sun finally come out, the logs were covered with basking turtles.  The others were anxious for their weekend and I didn't even request photographing opportunities.  It wasn't that big of a deal and I was pretty tired, too.  Almost all of the baskers were Northern Map Turtles.  A few Spiny Softshells were mixed in and I might have spied a River Cooter and Red-eared Slider as well.  We didn't see any Alligator Snapping Turtles, which had been on my list of bonus critters to hope for.

Along the way we also turned up, but I did not photograph, a couple of Midland Watersnakes.

--- CONCLUSION ---

This was a trip I had anxiously awaited for a very long time and I am extremely glad it finally worked out.  I'd like to especially thank Kelly for his invitation and really just everything that goes along with it.  It was great to meet Chris and Erin and spend some time with them on the river.

I got a little worried into the experience that things were not going to work out quite as well as I had hoped for, but the parts really fell into place right at the end.  I'd say 90% of what I had dreamt came true (minus getting chewed up by mosquitoes IN my hotel room...oh, and bedbugs!!!!  -shivers-).

Overall it was an awesome and long-awaited experience!  Perhaps a little bittersweet, too, in that these critters might very well disappear from the wild in my lifetime.  :-(

USFWS: The Ozark Hellbender

Your newest member of the Hellbenders Club!