Hurricane Helene recently ravaged the southeastern United States, cutting a path of destruction from the Florida coast past the mountains of North Carolina, more than 480 kilometers (300 miles) inland. The inland flooding has been catastrophic, and conservationists worry that the unprecedented storm may push some vulnerable species toward extinction. One of the most locally iconic species of concern is the hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis). At roughly 0.6 meters (2 feet) long and weighing in at nearly 2.2 kilograms (5 pounds), the hellbender is the largest species of salamander in the Americas. It is entirely aquatic and extremely sensitive to water pollution. “There’s so much contamination in floodwater,” Tierra Curry, endangered species coordinator with the Center for Biological Diversity, told Mongabay during a phone call. “Everything that was on the land can now settle out in the water, including things that are going to cause pollution for a long time, like refrigerators and cars.” Curry said the additional sediment from floodwater is also deadly for hellbenders. They live and breed under large rocks, in crevices that can be filled in with sediment during a flood. She said a storm in Missouri a few years ago crushed some salamanders and washed others downstream where they couldn’t survive. Hellbenders are considered vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of endangered species, yet they are not currently listed as such under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, largely due to their large range in the eastern U.S. The species lives in cold, clear, running water from…This article was originally published on Mongabay
The post Hurricane Helene creates new hurdles for vulnerable species in southeastern US first appeared on EnviroLink Network.