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Sphyrna mokarran at georgia🦈

Photo: Josh Hallett · CC BY 2.0

SpeciesCarcharhiniformesSphyrnidae
Sharks & rays

🦈Great hammerhead

Sphyrna mokarran (Rüppell, 1837)

The great hammerhead is the largest species of hammerhead shark, belonging to the family Sphyrnidae, attaining an average length of 4.6 m (15 ft) and reaching a maximum length of 6.2 m (20 ft). It is found around the globe in all the warmer parts of the oceans. The great hammerhead can be distinguished from other hammerheads by the shape of its "hammer", which is wide with an almost straight front margin, its tall, sickle-shaped first dorsal fin, and its strongly falcated pelvic fins. A solitary, strong-swimming apex predator, the great hammerhead feeds on a wide variety of prey ranging from crustaceans and cephalopods, to bony fish, to smaller sharks. Observations of this species in the wild suggest that the cephalofoil functions to immobilize stingrays, a favored prey. This species has a viviparous mode of reproduction, bearing litters of up to 2-49 pups every two years.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements
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vs you
≈ 7.2× your weight
Also called
Hammerhead Shark, Squat-headed Hammerhead Shark
Conservation status
CRCritically endangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2019.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
450 kg
Body length
3.7 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
30 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Great hammerhead

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
450 kgmaximum recorded
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Body length
3.7 mrecord 6.1 m · FishBasetypical adult
FishBase
Details ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Maximum lifespan
30 yearsmaximum recorded
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Trophic level
4.32
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04, estimate table · CC BY-NC 4.0

Diet
carnivoreaverage
Details ↓

From trophic level 4.32 (FishBase): <2.2 herbivore, 2.2–2.8 omnivore, >2.8 carnivore.

Danger to humans
other
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Volume l
450 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Great hammerhead yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

More

More about the Great hammerhead

In other languages
Sphyrna mokarran (es), 无沟双髻鲨 (zh), Grand requin-marteau (fr), Sphyrna mokarran (pt), Гигантская акула-молот (ru), peix martell gegantina (ca) … and 20 more languages

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