![]() ![]() The skin of all sharks is covered in denticles (tooth like structures). The hammer on the hammerhead fish is soft at birth and gets harder as it ages. Only three of the species have done so – the scalloped, smooth and great hammerhead sharks. They give birth to anywhere from 13-56 live pups at one time. This means that the pups grow inside the female shark. The Great Hammerhead shark is feared due to cannibalism as they eat other hammerhead sharks and their own young. It happens since I often cruise in shallow water near the surface for long periods of time. I am one of the few animals that tan from the sun. The weirdest looking is the wingback hammerhead shark. Hammerhead sharks date back more than 20 million years ago. With their nostrils in front and their eyes off to the side, they don’t miss the scent of anything. Hammerhead sharks with their rectangular heads have these pores spread out on their hammer, which makes them the most efficient hunters in the ocean. Sharks have special sensory pores called “Ampullae of Lorenzini.” These allow them to detect the electrical fields of other animals. Their wide-set eyes give them a better visual range than other sharks. As the shark moves through the ocean, its head sweeps like a metal detector. Hammerhead sharks have a special muscle that lets their heads move both up and down and side to side. I have an extra tall dorsal fin (much of it is visible above the waterline). My teeth are serrated and triangular in shape. Their meat is salted, dried and smoked, and their skin is used for leather.Īs I am one of the strangest looking fish in the sea, we can start with my head. The oil from their liver is used to make vitamins. Humans are the biggest enemy of the hammerhead shark! Humans kill sharks for their fins and make shark fin soup. Tiger sharks, great white sharks and killer whales like to eat hammerhead sharks. Counter-shading is a form of camouflage for animals to blend into their habitat. My underside is off-white.Ĭounter-shading is what we call animals that are darker on top and lighter on their underside. On my top, I can be grayish-brown to olive green. Hammerhead sharks are fish, as are all sharks. The great hammerhead shark is the largest of all hammerhead species, reaching a maximum known length of 20 feet (6.1 m)1 and weight of 991 pounds (450 kg). The hammerhead feeding technique is to pin down sting rays with their mallet-shaped head. They eat rays and skates, but also will eat squid, shrimp, smaller fish, crabs and other crustaceans (shellfish). Great (The largest, it can grow to be 20 feet long and weigh up to 1,000 pounds)Ĭompared with other predators, hammerheads have small mouths. There are 9 different species of hammerhead sharks: HOW MANY SPECIES OF HAMMERHEAD SHARKS ARE THERE? They have been seen in mass migrations moving toward cooler waters in the summertime. They can be found near the shoreline and along the continental shelf (shallow waters). Hammerheads live in temperate and tropical waters worldwide. ![]() Other projects in the Exploring Ocean life series: #Hammer head shark series#“Hammerhead Sharks” is the third in a series of online offerings from the Vanderbilt Museum’s educators. However, the great hammerhead's enormous size and fierceness make it potentially dangerous, though few attacks have been recorded.Your children can have some fun at home learning about fascinating inhabitants of the natural world and doing enjoyable creative projects. Most hammerhead species are fairly small and are considered harmless to humans. Their extra-tall, pointed dorsal fins are easily identifiable. They are gray-brown to olive-green on top with off-white undersides, and they have heavily serrated, triangular teeth. It can grow up to 20 feet in length and weigh up to 1,000 pounds, although smaller sizes are more common.įound in temperate and tropical waters worldwide, far offshore and near shorelines, hammerheads are often seen in mass summer migrations seeking cooler water. The great hammerhead is the largest of the nine identified species of this shark. The hammerhead's increased ampullae sensitivity allows it to find its favorite meal, stingrays, which usually bury themselves under the sand. One group of sensory organs is the ampullae of Lorenzini, which allows sharks to detect, among other things, the electrical fields created by prey animals. And by spreading their highly specialized sensory organs over their wide, mallet-shaped head, they can more thoroughly scan the ocean for food. Their wide-set eyes give them a better visual range than most other sharks. Hammerhead sharks are consummate predators that use their oddly shaped heads to improve their ability to find prey. ![]()
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