hellbender

The hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis), also known as the hellbender salamander, is a species of aquatic giant salamander endemic to the eastern and central United States. It is the largest salamander in North America. A member of the family Cryptobranchidae, the hellbender is the only extant member of the genus Cryptobranchus. Other closely related salamanders in the same family are in the genus Andrias, which contains the Japanese and Chinese giant salamanders. The hellbender is much larger than any other salamander in its geographic range, and employs an unusual adaption for respiration through cutaneous gas exchange via capillaries found in its lateral skin folds. It fills a particular niche—both as a predator and prey—in its ecosystem, which either it or its ancestors have occupied for around 65 million years. The species is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to the impacts of disease and widespread habitat loss and degradation throughout much of its range.

==Etymology== The origin of the name "hellbender" is unclear. The Missouri Department of Conservation says: The name 'hellbender' probably comes from the animal's odd look. One theory claims the hellbender was named by settlers who thought "it was a creature from hell where it's bent on returning." Another rendition says the undulating skin of a hellbender reminded observers of "horrible tortures of the infernal regions." In reality, it's a harmless aquatic salamander.In 1802, while traveling through the Holston Valley in present-day North Carolina and Virginia, French explorer François Michaux encountered a giant salamander and recorded that enslaved African American men in the area referred to it as a “hellbender,” indicating the name was already in common use.