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✎ Luis Mora

✎ Diego Aguilera

Smooth hammerhead
Sphyrna zygaenaCaribbean region

  • Generalities
  • Morpho-functionality
  • Lifecycle
  • Distribution

RECORRIDO VIRTUAL POR LA BIODIVERSIDAD DE COLOMBIA
Museo de Historia Natural
Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Smooth hammerhead
Sphyrna zygaena

It is a cartilaginous fish and can live for more than 20 years, it has been recorded at depths of up to 200 meters. It feeds mainly on other fish, octopus and crustaceans. It is known to migrate in summer and the young are usually found in groups. The shape of its head improved its sensory functions and helps the animal to be more hydrodynamic. It is used in Chinese medicine.

Conservation status

Extinct

Extinct in the Wild

Critically Endangered

Endangered

Vulnerable

Near Threatened

Least Concern

Not Evaluated

Data Deficient

Morpho-functionality

Head

The shape of the head enhances it´s senses of smell, sight and electroreception.

Scales

Placoid flakes give the skin a rough feel and reduce the friction force.

Body shape

Its fusiform body makes it more hydrodynamic which is important for an active predator.

Lifecycle

Biological data is very limited. Like all sharks of this genus, they have viviparous reproduction and therefore internal fertilization. The litter is about 20 to 50 individuals and their gestation takes about ten or eleven months. The periodicity of the reproductive cycle is unknown. Juveniles form shoals and do not have teeth at birth, but these begin to grow rapidly. They measure from 49 to 63 cm. Females mature when they reach between 246 and 265 cm in total length, while males do so with a length between 250 and 260 cm.

Smooth hammerhead

Distribution

It can be found in open waters on both Colombian coasts. It makes migrations along the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It occupies numerous marine environments in a vertical arrangement ranging from the surface to 200 m deep in temperate waters and tropical seas. It is a pelagic fish with coastal habits as juvenile and semi-oceanic when adults.

Distribution area