Young Hellbenders have a variety of dark spots on their skin that can be seen easily if they have a lighter pigment of skin color underneath this. The skin pigment of an adult Hellbender can vary from a yellowish brown to almost black color with some dark and light spots, which are not as easy to see in adulthood. If you turn a Hellbender over you will notice their orange, gray or brown belly. Although an exact reason as to why is at this point unsure Hellbenders are capable of changing color as well. Adult Hellbenders have been known to reach lengths of 29 inches, however most adult Hellbenders will attain an adult length of somewhere between 11 and 20 inches with the females generally larger than the males.
Hellbenders have four toes on their front feet and five on their hind feet.
The pads on the tips of their toes allow them to navigate well on algae covered rocks, as they prefer walking along the bottom of their surroundings as opposed to swimming. Their legs are short and their tail is about one third of their body size as adults. Although the Hellbender avoids game fish that has not stopped the folklore stories, which blame the Hellbender for a bad day of fishing. It is often said that a Hellbender will slime a fisherman s line or chase the fish away. These untrue stories also came with new names for this Salamander such as Allegheny Alligator and Devil Dog.