Hammerhead Shark

Sphyrna lewini

The scalloped hammerhead is a hammerhead shark in the family Sphyrnidae, originally described as Zygaena lewini. Its genus name comes from the Greek sphyrna, meaning hammer, a nod to the broad, hammer-shaped head that defines the species, with the eyes and nostrils set at the outer tips of the extensions. It is a sizeable hammerhead, yet still smaller than both the great and the smooth hammerheads.

Family

Sphyrnidae

Avg Size

300-370 cm

Habitat

This coastal-pelagic shark ranges over continental and island shelves and into adjacent deeper water, occurring in warm temperate and tropical seas worldwide between 46 degrees N and 36 degrees S. It can descend below 500 m but is most often above 25 m. By day it tends to stay near shore, moving further offshore to hunt at night. Adults travel alone, in pairs or in small schools, while younger animals form larger schools, and juveniles and pups favour sheltered, nutrient-rich shallows such as bays and mangroves that protect them from predators.

Behaviour

Scalloped hammerheads are opportunistic generalists, taking whatever prey is plentiful nearby; males and females eat the same things, though larger sharks take larger prey than juveniles do. Young sharks feed on inshore fish, while adults add larger, deeper-water animals to that diet. The bulk of their food is bony fish such as sardines, mackerel and herring, rounded out occasionally by cephalopods like squid, octopus and cuttlefish and by crustaceans such as lobsters, shrimps and crabs.

Where & When to See It

Ras Nasrani

Hammerhead Shark

Where & When to See It

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