Great hammerhead shark
| Great hammerhead | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Superorder: | Selachimorpha |
| Order: | Carcharhiniformes |
| Family: | Sphyrnidae |
| Genus: | Sphyrna |
| Species: | S. mokarran |
| Binomial name | |
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Sphyrna mokarran (Rüppell, 1837) |
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| Range of the great hammerhead | |
| Synonyms | |
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Sphyrna ligo Fraser-Brunner, 1950 |
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Sphyrna ligo Fraser-Brunner, 1950
Zygaena dissimilis Murray, 1887
Zygaena mokarran Rüppell, 1837
The great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran) is the largest species of hammerhead shark, belonging to the family Sphyrnidae, attaining a maximum length of 6.1 m (20 ft). It is found in tropical and warm temperate waters worldwide, inhabiting coastal areas and the continental shelf. The great hammerhead can be distinguished from other hammerheads by the shape of its "hammer" (called the "cephalofoil"), which is wide with an almost straight front margin, and by its tall, sickle-shaped first dorsal fin. 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 55 pups every two years.
Although potentially dangerous, the great hammerhead rarely attacks humans. It sometimes behaves inquisitively toward divers and should be treated with respect. This shark is heavily fished for its large fins, which are extremely valuable on the Asian market as the main ingredient of shark fin soup. As a result, great hammerhead populations are declining substantially worldwide, and it has been assessed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The great hammerhead was first described as Zygaena mokarran in 1837 by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell. The name was later changed to the current Sphyrna mokarran. However, for many years the valid scientific name for the great hammerhead was thought to be Sphyrna tudes, which was coined in 1822 by Achille Valenciennes. In 1950, Enrico Tortonese determined that the specimens illustrated by Valenciennes were in fact smalleye hammerheads, to which the name S. tudes then applied. As the next most senior synonym, Sphyrna mokarran became the great hammerhead's valid name. The lectotype for this species is a 2.5 m (8.2 ft) long male from the Red Sea.
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Wikipedia