photos of scalloped
hammerhead sharks
To see more scalloped
hammerhead shark pictures, click here
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underwater photo of schooling Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks
Galapagos |

Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks (Sphyrna
lewini) stock picture Costa Rica |

Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks photograph. Sphyrna lewini.
Galapagos |

dramatic silhouette image of Scalloped Hammerhead
Shark, Pacific Ocean |
|
common
name |
Scalloped
Hammerhead Shark |
scientific
name |
Sphyrna
lewini |
range |
Worldwide,
most tropical and warm temperate seas |
viewing
hotspots |
Galapagos,
Cocos Island Costa Rica, Baja Mexico |
habitat |
Coastal,
open ocean, and offshore pinnacles |
size |
To
13 feet (4m) |
diet |
Fish,
cephalopods |
trivia |
Nursery areas
in shallow, turbid coastal waters; often afraid of scuba diver’s
exhaled bubbles; surface to 1000 feet (300m) deep |
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Witnessing
a school of one hundred hammerheads soar overtop is one of the most
magical of underwater encounters. For reasons still unknown,
Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks, Sphyrna lewini, group together during
certain times of the year near offshore pinnacles and seamounts in
places such as Wolf and Darwin Islands in the Galapagos, Malpelo
Island off Colombia, and Cocos Island Costa Rica. Perhaps it’s for
reproductive or social reasons, or maybe it’s a resting place on a
mysterious migration.
This is the most abundant and widely
distributed of the large hammerhead species. Like other sharks,
scalloped hammerheads have a sophisticated sensory system, with
specialized electroreceptive organs such as the ampullae of
Lorenzini on the snout underside. These help the shark to detect
weak electric fields given off by fish, even those buried under the
sand. Hammerheads also have a magnetic sense, which may aid in long
distance migrations. Smell, sight, and hearing are also highly
developed. The hammerhead’s unique head shape no doubt improves
electroreceptive and olfactory perception by spreading these sensory
organs over a broad area.
Hammerheads are among the most highly
evolved (advanced) of all sharks. Sharks are cartilaginous fish,
meaning the skeletons have no true bone but are composed of
cartilage. Sharks first appear in the fossil record more than 400
million years ago, long before the dinosaurs.
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