Description: Hellbenders are known for their primitive body design and their large size. They have small eyes, a keeled tail, and a flat body to assist the Ozark hellbender in movement in rivers and streams. They have folds along their sides that assist them in respiration, as oxygen is able to diffuse across the skin. It is a strictly aquatic species, even though it technically lacks gills. On average, they are about 29-57 centimeters in length.

Habitat: Ozark hellbenders are frequently found underneath large flat rocks in rocky, fast flowing streams in the Ozark Plateau at depths from less than 1 meter to 3 meters. They are primarily nocturnal, remaining undercover until nightfall. Hellbenders are habitat specialists that are dependent on consistent levels of dissolved oxygen, temperature, and water flow. Warmer stagnant waters with a low dissolved oxygen content do not meet the Ozark hellbenders respiratory needs. It has been observed that Ozark hellbenders in warm stagnant waters sway or rock in order to increase oxygen exposure

Range: Ozark hellbenders are endemic to the White River drainage in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri. Historically they have been found in portions of Spring, White, Black, Eleven Point, and Current Rivers and their tributaries. Hellbenders are now considered extirpated in the mainstem White, Black, and Spring Rivers and Jacks Fork, and with their range being considerably reduced in the remaining rivers and tributaries.

Found in these States: AR | MO

Diet: Hellbenders mainly feed on crayfish, although small fish, snails, and insects are occasionally eaten. Little is known of the food choices of larval Ozark hellbenders. In the wild, they apparently feed on various aquatic insects similar to the eastern hellbender.

Reproduction: Typically, Ozark hellbenders breed in mid-October, although certain populations that live in the Spring River area tend to procreate in the winter. Paternal care is present in this subspecies, even though it is rare to see this in tetrapods.[19] The males are responsible for preparing the nests and ultimately guarding the eggs. They build nests under submerged logs, flat rocks, or within bedrocks. Hellbenders mate via external fertilization. Usually, around 138 to 450 eggs are present per nest,[3] and they hatch after approximately 80 days. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae and juveniles hide under small and large rocks in gravel beds. Ozark hellbenders are highly sedentary creatures, meaning that neither males nor females have long distance dispersal rates.

Status: This subspecies is limited to a small range where it has suffered extensive long- and short-term declines due to numerous threats. Intrinsic characteristics of the species and the severely impacted habitat pose great challenges to recovery.

The Ozark hellbender became a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act in 2001. It was assigned a priority level of 6 for threats due to habitat loss and fragmentation because of human activity and pollution. In 2005 the Fish and Wildlife Service increased its listing priority number to a 3 because of increased pressures on the species from recreation activity in their habitat including gigging and boat traffic, and increases in the contamination of their waters. The USFWS put forth the proposed rule to list the Ozark hellbender as endangered under the ESA in September 2010, and the listing of the species as endangered became effective November 7, 2011. In April 2017, a five-year review of the subspecies’ status was initiated.

Taxonomy: