Giant Hammerhead Shark: description and photo

The world that is near us, but which is difficult to study and observe, is the underwater world. Despite the fact that it is very close, it is studied less than the surface of Mars. Nevertheless, people are interested in unusual, and sometimes mysterious, inhabitants of this kingdom. Even toy manufacturers are heating up this interest: for example, the giant hammer shark KO.MAXI, released not so long ago, "DeAgostini", makes children think about what kind of creature it is, how it lives and how dangerous.

Description

The body of this fish is similar to the body of its relatives, excluding the unique shape of the skull. The giant hammerhead shark is the largest representative of not only the family of hammerheads, but in general one of the largest sharks. In addition to the Arctic, these fish can be found in all oceans. Often this predator appears even at rather cold coasts of Primorsky edge of Russia - in the summer they are frequent visitors in the Sea of Japan.

The giant hammerhead sharks differ markedly from their relatives by the unique structure of the skull - on the head of the fish there is an outgrowth in the form of a regular rectangle. Its range is 25-27% of the whole body, with the leading edge curved very slightly. The mouth of this shark in the form of a strongly curved sickle. Teeth small enough, triangular, their jagged edges. In the upper jaw of the shark there are 17 dental rows, in the lower - 16-17.

All shark fins have the shape of a sickle. The largest is the anterior dorsal. A distinctive feature of young individuals is the dark corner of the posterior dorsal fin. The posterior edge of all fins has considerable curvature.

The body is colored unevenly: the color is dark brown, gray and olive on the back, very light, almost white, on the belly. No spots or patterns were observed in any individual.

A giant hammerhead shark, the description of which can kill the desire to frolic in ocean waves, does not in vain have such a name. The average length of the body is 4-5 meters. However, there were also much larger specimens. There are often fish, having a length of about 6 meters, the largest catch shark was 7.89 m long. The weight of the most impressive individuals can exceed 500 kg. The largest weight was registered in a pregnant woman with fifty-five young females - 580 kg.

Habitat

The giant hammerhead shark does not have a clear habitat - it likes to travel in different regions. You can see it in the offshore and offshore zones of the seas and oceans. It occurs both in temperate latitudes and in the tropical.

The Atlantic Ocean is "mastered" by sharks from Uruguay to North Carolina, from Senegal to Morocco. Fish swim in the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas, in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the Pacific and Indian Oceans, a giant hammerhead sharks are found almost everywhere: both near the shores of Australia, and in Polynesia. You can meet her from Peru to Southern California.

There is information, but it is not documented that individual specimens were caught off the coasts of Mauritania, the Gambia, Western Sahara, Guinea and Sierra Leone. The shark prefers to spend time in the coastal zones, hunting in the water column from the surface and to at least 80-meter depth. Lives prefer in lagoons and coral reefs. Can take a cozy place at the slopes of the islands or find deep-water places near the shore.

It is noticed that sharks are subject to seasonal migrations: in the warm season they are sent to higher latitudes.

Food

The giant hammer, like any other representative of this species of fish, is a predator. It feeds mostly on bony fishes, crustaceans, reef (and if lucky, larger ones) sharks, rays. He likes sea horses and poisonous rays. Spikes of stingrays do not interfere with the predator at all - there are cases when hundreds of these guns were stuck in the belly of the caught individual. Sometimes attacks marine mammals. There are cases of attacks on people.

Behavior

Most of the hammerhead sharks are single. For hunting use electrosensory sense organs, smell and binocular vision.

These fish from an early age can attack any inhabitant of the sea, even more aggressive and large. The only danger to them are marine parasites and humans.

Reproduction

The giant hammerhead shark, a photo of which can force to abandon diving, is a viviparous fish. Her offspring appear every two years. The period of gestation of embryos is 11 months. In one litter can be from 6 to 55 cubs, but this amount is infrequent. On average, fish bring from 20 to 40 fry. The length of the newborn is 50-70 cm.

Unlike other sharks, these prefer to mate near the surface of the water. Sexual maturation occurs when the female grows to 2.5-3 meters. Males need to reach the "total" mark of 2.3-2.7 meters in length.

These fish live on average 20-30 years, but there are also those whose life lasts more than half a century.

Danger

In the rating of the most dangerous creatures for humans, this fish is in the top ten (among the inhabitants of the ocean). However, the shark actually does not attack so often. Divers who met with her in the water, argue that more often than not she shows no aggression, but only curiosity. Nevertheless, one should not rely too much on it, sinking to the bottom. There is not only one attack of a hammerhead sharks per person.

The main reason for the scarcity of cannibalism among these sharks is its infrequent appearance in densely populated areas. Most of the attacks were recorded in the Philippines, Hawaii and the Florida Islands - it is in these areas that most sharkshammers prefer to breed.

Fishing

Despite the high danger of this fish for humans, the latter is much more dangerous for the whole species. The high taste qualities of the shark fins led to the active fishing of this fish. Particularly fond of shark fin soup in Asian countries - in these regions fish are destroyed at a giant pace. At present, its population is very small and continues to decline. Today, the hammerhead is threatened with extinction. It is for this reason that it was listed in the International Red Book. That, however, does not prevent individual groups of individuals from continuing to engage in its fishery.