Hammerhead sharks

The complete guide to hammerhead sharks

Why hammerheads have a hammer, why they school, what they eat, and why most species are now threatened, drawn from the published research.

BY DR SIMON J PIERCE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Each article in this guide draws on the published research on hammerhead sharks, including the IUCN Red List assessments that MMF co-founder Dr Andrea Marshall co-authored and long-term tracking studies of scalloped hammerheads in the Eastern Tropical Pacific.

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TYPES OF HAMMERHEAD
Types of Hammerhead Shark: How Many Species, and How to Tell Them Apart
How many hammerhead shark species there are, how to tell the scalloped, great, smooth, and bonnethead apart, and where each type lives.
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WHY THE HAMMER?
Why Do Hammerhead Sharks Have a Hammer? What the Science Says About the Cephalofoil
What experiments reveal about why hammerhead sharks have a hammer-shaped head, from sensing prey and vision to turning, lift, and pinning stingrays.
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SIZE
How Big Are Hammerhead Sharks? Size by Species, Pups, and Records
How big hammerhead sharks get, species by species, with the truth about 20-foot great hammerheads, pup sizes, growth, weights, and how scientists measure them.
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FEEDING & DIET
What Do Hammerhead Sharks Eat? Diet and Hunting by Species
What hammerhead sharks eat, from the great hammerhead's stingrays to the scalloped hammerhead's deep-sea squid and the bonnethead's seagrass.
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SCHOOLING & MIGRATION
Why Do Hammerhead Sharks School, and Where Do They Migrate?
Why scalloped hammerheads form daytime schools at islands like the Galápagos, where they go at night, and how far hammerhead sharks migrate.
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BABY HAMMERHEADS
Baby Hammerhead Sharks: Pups, Nurseries, and Reproduction
How hammerhead sharks give birth, how many pups they have, how big baby hammerheads are, and where the coastal nurseries that shelter them are found.
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THREATS & CONSERVATION
Why Are Hammerhead Sharks Endangered? Threats and Conservation
Why hammerhead sharks are endangered: Red List status by species, the fin trade, bycatch, and climate change, and the protections that help them recover.
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ARE HAMMERHEADS DANGEROUS?
Are Hammerhead Sharks Dangerous? Diving and Swimming with Hammerheads
What the research shows about whether hammerhead sharks are dangerous to people, and where, when, and how to dive with them responsibly.
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