graveleye wrote:I saw some show where these guys were catching hellbenders but I can't for the life of me remember why. Do they eat them?
Ozark hellbenders are under threat in the wild. There, baby hellbenders are very scarce, and no one knows why. (Hellies can get up to about 1 foot, but nothing like the Chinese guy above). Back in the 70's, MDC did a study where they cold-marked hellies (already in decline) and though they still find a lot of these old guys, very few little guys. The St. Louis Zoo has a pretty well-known hellbender breeding program, still in its early stages, to try to save them, but they don't like breeding in captivity, either.
Baby hellies at one time were used as fish bait, but it's now not legal to do so. I've never heard of them being eaten directly, though I suspect one or two have been.
This Friday is the kickoff of The Year of the Frog (
http://www.yearofthefrog.com) -- a world-wide amphibian rescue effort. Why Friday? It's Leap Day, of course!