The most obvious distinguishing feature is the lateral expansion of the head in a hammer or bonnet form, with the eyes at the outer edges. In fact, the great hammerhead specializes in hunting and eating large stingrays, and some members of this species have been found to have dozens of stingray barbs embedded in their flesh. The teeth are small and smooth-edged, with angled triangular cusps. Nonetheless, large hammerhead sharks should be respected and avoided by bathers and divers. Is it possible to keep a mini-hammerhead shark as a pet? The waters off Malpelo Island, Colombia, are home to a diverse marine life, which includes the scalloped hammerhead shark. Many sharks have different teeth in front compared to the back of their mouths, depending on what they need … Birth usually occurs during the spring and summer months, and females will usually give birth in shallow, protected coastal waters. The great hammerhead shark has up to several rows of teeth in each jaw, with 24 to 37 in each row. Bright white color. The great hammerhead shark has up to several rows of teeth in each jaw, with 24 to 37 in each row. These … Many localities included. Learn more about this distinctive animal, named for the unusual shape of it's head. The number of shark hammer surpasses many other … Recognize bull shark teeth by their tapering serrations. How Many Teeth Does a Hammerhead Shark Have. These teeth are usually 1 inch (2.5 cm) long or slightly shorter. It can swim 25 miles per hour at a regular pace and reach 46 miles per hour in quick bursts that allow it to fly into the … Most sharks have around 30,000 teeth during their whole 20-30 year lifespan, typically more for the longer-lived species. Hammerheads have a sinister reputation of…, The oddest-looking sharks are the hammerheads (. Hammerhead Shark Teeth. First, the flattened and expanded head acts as a hydrodynamic bow plane that allows the shark to raise and turn its head quickly and sharply. Hammerhead sharks have 38 to 46 teeth. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Using the side of its head to pin a ray flat to the ocean's floor, the shark rotates its head, taking off large chunks of the ray with its deadly bite. Meanwhile, the largest shark is the whale shark, which can be up to 40 feet long. Since stingrays are equipped with venomous stingers in their tails, hammerheads use a unique predatory tactic. Most of those attacked were spearfishing, and it could be that the blood of the speared fish attracted the sharks. However, they have more than one row of teeth so they can have over 100. They have few predators and are considered harmless to humans. Five pairs of gill slits are seen, with the fifth pair over the pectoral … 2 The species is distinguished from other hammerheads by its nearly straight hammer-shaped head (cephalofoil) that has a prominent indentation in the middle. The hammerheads seem closely related to the carcharhinid sharks that evolved during the mid-Tertiary period. A shark can have as many as 50,000 teeth in it's lifetime with 5 to 15 rows in it's upper and lower jaw. Everyone knows shark teeth, right? Uh, no. It can grow up to 20 feet in length and weigh up to 1,000 pounds, although smaller sizes are more common. The teeth are triangular with extremely serrated edges, ideal for hunting prey. Sphyrinidae (hammerhead sharks) Corrections? 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). Hammerhead shark, (family Sphyrnidae), any of 10 shark species belonging to the genera Sphyrna (9 species) and Eusphyrna (1 species), which are characterized by a flattened hammer- or shovel-shaped head, or cephalofoil. Updates? These organs may even detect the electrical impulses of prey buried in sediment. Bull shark teeth have blades that are flat and broad with a narrow apex. The shark’s ear is entirely internal. Hammerhead sharks, or sphyrnids, are perhaps the most distinctive and unique of all sharks. Learn More While hammerhead sharks usually are not considered dangerous, there have been several confirmed accounts of large hammerhead sharks attacking people. While there are serrations along the entire blade, they get smaller and smaller further down the blade. This catalog contains large and very well preserved teeth from several Hammerhead (Sphyrna) species ranging in age from the Eocene to the Pleistocene. The great hammerhead is the largest of the nine identified species of this shark. Some sharks are enormous – but have the tiniest teeth! Lastly, many larger hammerhead species hunt stingrays and other benthic (that is, bottom-dwelling) fish; they have been observed using the wide margins of their heads to ram and pin prey to the substrate before biting them. At any given time, a shark will have between five and 15 rows of teeth growing behind their functional front chompers. Humans often eat the meat of hammerhead sharks; however, consumers should be aware that large specimens may have high levels of mercury and other pollutants. Hammerhead sharks prey on a wide array of fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans, but specific prey varies between the different species. They can have many rows on each jaw, and each row can have 24-37 teeth in it. Hammerhead sharks are generally gray-brown to olive-green with off-white undersides, and mouths filled with serrated triangular-shaped teeth. 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