Scalloped Hammerhead Shark
Sphyrna lewini
No recording yet
Quick Facts
- Type
- Fish
- Size
- 2.5–4.3 m long
- Weight
- Up to about 150 kg
- Habitat
- Warm coastal and offshore seas worldwide
- Diet
- Fish, rays, squid, and crustaceans
- Active Time
- Active by day (diurnal)
- Lifespan
- About 30 years
Field Notes
- The wide head spreads out sensors that detect prey's electric fields and scent.
- Scalloped hammerheads sometimes gather in schools of hundreds by day.
- Their eyes at the head's tips give them a very wide field of vision.
About the Scalloped Hammerhead Shark
The scalloped hammerhead is a shark instantly recognized by its wide, flattened, T-shaped head, called a cephalofoil. Spreading the eyes and sensory organs far apart gives it a broad field of view and an enhanced ability to detect the faint electric fields of hidden prey such as stingrays buried in sand. Found in warm coastal and offshore waters worldwide, scalloped hammerheads sometimes gather in large schools by day. They are generally not dangerous to people, but the species is endangered, heavily affected by fishing for their fins.
Keep exploring
Related animals
Seahorse
Clown Anemonefish
Great White Shark
Electric Eel
Palaeoniscum freieslebeni
Rhabdolepis macropterus
Hulettia americana
Amblypterus latus
Amblypterus nemopterus
Notacanthus bonaparte
Alfaro cultratus
Valencia toothcarp
Or spin for another random animal on the explorer, or browse all species in the full directory.