Facts about Great Hammerhead
- 08
Approximately 55 percent of a great hammerhead's body weight is concentrated in its massive head, providing hydrodynamic advantages and increased surface area for electroreceptive ampullae of Lorenzini.
- 07
Bite force measurements of 20,000 pounds per square inch make great hammerheads among the most powerful biters in the shark world, enabling them to consume stingrays and other armored prey.
- 06
Great hammerheads can reach lengths of 20 feet, making them the largest species within the Sphyrnidae family of hammerhead sharks.
- 05
Depths exceeding 80 meters are regularly inhabited by great hammerheads in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, making them among the deepest-diving carcharhiniform sharks.
- 04
Females of Sphyrna mokarran reach sexual maturity between 20 and 25 years old, making them among the slowest-maturing sharks in the ocean.
- 03
Great hammerheads aggregate in groups of up to 100 individuals during the day off the coast of southern Australia before dispersing to hunt at night.
- 02
Sphyrna mokarran sharks exhibit an unusual reproductive strategy where females can reproduce asexually through parthenogenesis when males are unavailable, producing genetically identical offspring.
- 01
The distinctive hammer-shaped head of the great hammerhead can span up to 6 feet wide, containing specialized sensory organs that detect electrical fields produced by prey.