Great Hammerhead Shark Facts

David von Bodungen
Katherine Schweiss
BSC 201L
29 March 2017
Information and Facts Regarding the Great Hammerhead Shark

Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum: Chordata; Class: Chondrichthyes; Order: Carcharhiniformes; Family: Sphyrnidae; Genus: Sphyrna Species: mokarran; Scientific Name: Sphyrna mokarran. The Great Hammerhead was discovered and initially described by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell in the year 1837, but the original name that he had given the organism was Zygaena mokarran, and this was changed to the current species name within the same year.
Description/Distinguishable Features: The Great Hammerhead shark is generally a large creature that can reach up to 230 kilograms in weight, and up to approximately 6 meters in
The male will fertilize the female’s eggs which lie in her uterus, and once these eggs are fertilized, the mother will then carry them until they hatch within her, and she is ready to give the live birth. The gestational period for this organism is generally between ten and eleven months, and when the female gives birth, the number of offspring may be as low as five or six to as many as fifty pups. Generally, great hammerheads leave their mother’s care shortly after birth to begin hunting on their own. They will hunt and migrate, and then grow over the span of about thirty years which is the average lifetime of Sphyrna Mokarran. This is assuming that the organism is not consumed by a larger shark before reaching its adult stage. Great hammerheads do not have any natural predators once they are adults, but they still fall prey to human influence such as bycatching, and more severely trading of shark organs such as the skin and the fins. These factors have caused a serious decline in the great hammerhead population.
Conservation Status: Currently great hammerheads are on their way to becoming an endangered species. This is primarily due to illegal activities in the shark fin trade. In this field, hammerheads of many types are valued for their fins which are plentiful and of good quality. There was a CITES conference held recently in which Sphyrna Mokarran as well as other hammerhead species were placed on a list of
As mentioned previously, this shape allows more surface area for the electrically charged Ampullae of Lorenzini to reside so that the sharks can detect electrical signals from prey such as rays that hide in sand beds. In addition to this, the shape of their head also allows them to have a wider range of vision which is beneficial in hunting. The last interesting way in which these organisms can use this evolutionary advantage is to hold down rays when the shark is ready to eat them. Research has found that this action is actually a learned trait by the