Mar 10
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Scalloped Hammerhead Shark
Sphyrna lewini
Introduction
The Scalloped Hammerhead is the most common species of hammerhead that you will find in coastal regions.
Where Will I Find Them?
Warm and tropical coastal waters between about 46 degrees North and 36 degrees South are the waters in which you will usually find these sharks. They often come close to shore and into enclosed bays and estuaries, but you will also find them out at sea down to a depth of around 275 meters.
What Do They Look Like?
Most hammerhead that divers encounter are 2 to 2 1/2 meters in length, but the average length of males is about 3 meters and for females, it is a little longer. The largest recorded length is at least 3.7 meters and it is thought that there are a few individuals that maybe over 4 meters.
The Scalloped Hammerhead can be distinguished by the arched front edge of the head that has a prominent central dent. You can see from the picture below the difference between the Great Hammerhead and the Scalloped Hammerhead.
The skin of the shark is a uniform grey, brown-grey or olive on the top, fading to white on the underside. On young sharks, the edges of the pectoral fins are darker, and they usually lighten up as the animal gets older.
What Do They Eat?
Scalloped Hammerheads generally feed on bony fishes, squid, octopus and cuttlefishes, but also sometimes eat lobsters, shrimps, crabs, other sharks and rays and occasionally the odd tasty diver. Oops, sorry – I didn’t mean that last bit 
What is Their Usual Behaviour?
These sharks tend to stick together in groups, which may be for feeding and reproducing reasons. Although some people say their group behaviour is for protective reasons, these sharks have few little threat from predators when they reach full maturity.
Humans have little to fear from Scalloped Hammerheads as they are not aggressive, and any incidents involving humans were probably more to do with fear on the shark’s part. So don’t scare the poor little sharky – if you do…I have no sympathy!!
What is Their Conservation Status?
The Scalloped Hammerhead is classified as Lower Risk/near threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This means that they are not Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable, but they are relatively close to qualifying for Vulnerable.
References
www.marinebio.org
www.sharkinfo.ch
