Great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran)

Scientific name: Sphyrna mokarran R?ppell, 1837

Great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran)

The Great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran) is a brackish-water fish of the family Sphyrnidae.

Biology

A coastal-pelagic, semi-oceanic shark, found close inshore and well offshore, over the continental shelves, island terraces, and in passes and lagoons. Often bottom and reef associated at 1-80 m. Prefers to feed on stingrays and other batoids, groupers and sea catfishes, but also preys on other small bony fishes, crabs, squid, other sharks, rays, and lobsters. A viviparous species, with 13-42 of about 56 to 70 cm young in a litter. Potentially dangerous to people but only few, if any, of the attacks on people can be definitely attributed to it because of the apparent difficulty of distinguishing large hammerhead species involved in attacks. Caught occasionally by target shark longline, demersal tangle net and tuna gillnet fisheries. Meat utilized for

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Sphyrna mokarran
Family
Sphyrnidae (Hammerhead / bonnethead / scoophead sharks)
Order
Carcharhiniformes (Ground sharks)
Class
Elasmobranchii (Sharks and Rays)
Maximum length
610
Common length
370
Depth range
1–300 m (3–984 ft)
Environment
Marine; brackish; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous; depth range 1 - 300 m
Climate
Subtropical
Distribution
Circumglobal in coastal warm temperate and tropical seas. Western Atlantic: North Carolina, USA to Uruguay, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. Eastern Atlantic: Mediterranean and Morocco to Senegal. Indo-Pacific: throughout the Indian Ocean; Ryukyu Islands to New Caledonia and French Polynesia. Eastern Pacific: southern Baja California, Mexico to Peru. Highly migratory species, Annex I of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Endangered (EN) (A2bd+4bd)
Threat to humans
Other
Uses
Fisheries: commercial
Resilience
Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Fec=13)

Sources

Taxonomy, distribution and biology data: FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds.), licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

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