Is this a hellbender? A seagull dropped it on the deck

[threemilebay]

It was about 13 inches

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[TileMan Dan]

Mudpuppy I believe

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[threemilebay]

Wasn't a mud puppy. It was too big. I've caught mud puppies and this was different

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[ericmic1]

looks like a mudpuppy to me too..

 

http://ohioamphibians.com/salamanders/Is_it_a_Hellbender_or_Mudpuppy.html

[threemilebay]

Mod puppy it is. Never seen one that big b4. Thanks for the info

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[Kevin J Legg]

External gills make it a mudpuppy. I don't believe hellbenders are found in this region.

[ifishy]

mud puppy all the way they get pretty big i have one as a pet that is about 22 inches.  they never shed there gills.  hellbenders have gills for a portion of there life and shed them in adulthood and migrate onto land.  there are several species that get the common name hellbender including one common to the hudson valley region.  salamanders as a whole are protected in ny as there are a couple species on the endangered list. hope it lived 

[threemilebay]

Never saw one that big. Lol. It was pretty cool though. I was at work and a seagull flew thru and dropped it right next to the station I was waiting on. Luckily there was no one eating there.

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[threemilebay]

BTW it was already dead. Otherwise I would have made sure it was returned properly.

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[threemilebay]

The reason I thought it might be a hellbender was because it was on the genesse river and thought it might have been flushed here to rochester from Pennsylvania from all the heavy rain we have been getting.

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[threemilebay]

Here are some more pic's

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[threemilebay]

BTW those are 6" boards on the deck so it was like a foot long.

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[lineman49]

External gills make it a mudpuppy. I don't believe hellbenders are found in this region.

FYI,They just did a study of the Hellbenders in the Allegany river in the Ellicottville NY. area. It was on the CRCS Outdoors tv show on one of the outdoor sports channels. They are a special thing to the Native Americans in the area. They live under flat rocks on the river bottom.

[Kevin J Legg]

Lineman 49

I read an article on article on them somewhere that ways very enlightening. Hellbenders can get much bigger than that.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Kevin J Legg

[threemilebay]

Cook I'll check that out. Thanks.

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[fishdick69]

If it has gills,I believe it's a mud puppy

[plecos4sale]

Got them out of sodus bay all the time in the 60's