Scalloped hammerhead
Sphyrna lewini
Valid name.
- English
- Scalloped hammerhead
- Scientific
- Sphyrna lewini
- Dhivehi
- ކާލިގަނޑު މިޔަރުKaaligandu miyaru
- Group
- Sharks
- Maximum size
- Up to about 4.2 m
- Depth and habitat
- Outer reef slopes and open ocean, 0 to over 1,000 m (usually shallower than 25 m near reefs)
- IUCN status
- CR · Critically EndangeredCritically Endangered (CR), assessed 2018CITES Appendix II
Description
A large hammerhead whose wide, flattened head has a scalloped front edge with a central notch. The head spreads its sense organs, helping it detect buried prey and electrical fields. By day adults often form large schools along seamounts and reef edges, dispersing at night to hunt fish and squid. It has declined sharply worldwide because of the shark-fin trade.
In the Maldives
Best known in the Maldives from the early-morning dive at Madivaru, Rasdhoo Atoll, where schools appear at depth off the reef; also seen at Fuvahmulah. Protected under the 2010 shark fishing ban.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Sphyrna-lewini.html
- fao.org /4/AD471E/AD471E00.htm
- fishbase.se /comnames/CommonNamesList.php?ID=912&GenusName=Sphyrna&SpeciesName=lew
- dv.wikipedia.org /wiki/ކާލިގަނޑު_މިޔަރު
- cites.org /sites/default/files/eng/prog/shark/images/Maldives.pdf
- fao.org /docrep/pdf/007/ae500e/ae500e00.pdf
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Scalloped_hammerhead_shark_(Sphyrna_lewini)_Costa_Rica_(cro
Dhivehi name source: M.R.S. (1997) Fishes of the Maldives, Marine Research Section, Malé (FAO/BOBP MAG/21); Thaana from Dhivehi Wikipedia (fish articles derived from the MRS 1997 Dhivehi edition). Also in FishBase common names (country: Maldives).