The Great Hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran)

The Great Hammerhead shark is an apex predator that lives in warm waters in the tropic to warm temperate zones around the world. They are one of the ten species of hammerhead sharks with it being the largest of the species with a hammer-shaped head called a cephalofoil. They can live up to 20-30 years reaching a max length of 20 feet and weighing over 500 pounds. Hammerheads feed on fish, invertebrates, other sharks, and stingrays. Stingrays are the favored prey of the hammerhead shark and they are consumed along with their venomous spines. They are a viviparous animal and females can give birth up to 55 pups every two years. The Great Hammerhead shark is considered an endangered species due to the fact that it is heavily fished for shark fin soup in the Asian market.

The Great Hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran)

On our trip from FGCU’s Vester Marine Station on Thursday, we went offshore into the Gulf of Mexico to tag sharks and collect tissue samples for the analysis of mercury contents in the sharks. On our last pull of the 5 drum lines that we set out, our third one contained a Great Hammerhead shark roughly 7 feet long which was wrapped around the line and was beginning to look stressed. Due to this, we tried pulling it in to release him but when it got close to the boat it rolled and the hook came out on its own. 

The Great Hammerhead caught at FGCU on Thursday