What do hammerhead sharks use their head for?

These sharks are often found swimming along the bottom of the ocean, stalking their prey. Their unique heads are used as a weapon when hunting down prey. The hammerhead shark uses its head to pin down stingrays and eats the ray when the ray is weak and in shock.

How have hammerhead sharks adapted to their environment?

Hammerhead sharks have adapted to have sleek and aerodynamic bodies. This allows them to not only swim fast (at speeds clocked at 25 miles per hour), but it also allows them to make quick and sharp turns to both catch prey and avoid predators.

Do sharks get pregnant?

Adding to the discomfort of a 2-year gestation, some deep sea sharks are also able to get pregnant as soon they give birth. They accomplish this by cycling through a conveyer belt of babies, with fully formed pups at the bottom of the uterus and large eggs waiting to be fertilized at the top.

How many shark species are there?

There are more than 1,000 species of sharks and rays, with new species discovered every year. These majestic top predators that are so essential to the natural order of marine ecosystems now face their most severe threat from overfishing.

What do you know about hammerhead shark?

Like other hammerhead species, great hammerhead sharks have long, serrated teeth and use their hammer-shaped heads to detect and eat prey. Their heads are equipped with electrical receptors that can sense potential prey, including those hiding in the sand.

How do Hammerheads defend themselves?

The hammerhead shark has many ways to protect itself. One way the shark protects itself is its teeth. They teeth protect the shark by biting the enemy and making them swim away. The other way the shark protects itself is with it’s head.

What did Hammerheads evolve from?

Further, the hammerheads seem to most closely resemble the carcharhinid Scoliodon laticaudus, also known as the Spadenose Shark. It had traditionally been thought that all the hammerheads evolved from a single carcharhinid ancestor with a ‘normal-shaped’ head.

Why do Hammerheads have a hammer shaped head?

Hammerhead sharks are voracious predators and their mallet-shaped heads boost their ability to find that which they like to eat. The wide expanse of head allows for a broader spread of highly specialized sensory organs that they use to find food. And beyond smell and vision, these sensory organs are rather high-tech.

What are the 9 types of hammerhead sharks?

Despite how they may feel about themselves, hammerheads are one of the most intriguing species of shark. There are nine different classifications of hammerhead sharks, but only four are common and abundant: the great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, smooth hammerhead and bonnethead.

What are some adaptations of the hammerhead shark?

Special Adaptations. The Great Hammerhead Shark is nocturnal and can be found in waters closer to shores. Saying that, it is also known to mate in shallow waters rather than deep waters, like most sharks. It’s hammerhead shape can allow it to see 360 degrees around its body and also kill prey.

What are the characteristics of a hammerhead shark?

Other physical characteristics of the hammerhead sharks are similar to another shark species. They have nostrils at the tip of their head and large eyes at each side of it. The mouth is small, contains serrated teeth and locates under the head. They have two dorsal fins, the first larger than the other.

What is the hammerhead sharks habitat?

Different species of hammerhead sharks inhabit temperate and tropical waters around the world, along coastal lines and continental shelves. They dwell the Mesopelagic zone and up to 80 meters deep. Their most common habitats are reefs of shallow waters and occasionally visit brackish waters. Hammerhead shark – Family Sphyrnidae.