Sphyrna tiburo (Linnaeus 1758)

Front of head semicircular in outline. No other hammerhead has front of head in semicircle. (Ref. 26938).

Viviparous, placental (Ref. 50449), with 6 to 9 young per litter. Size at birth about 35 to 40 cm.

Abundant in critical seagrass habitats. Previous study has shown its capacity to consume large amounts of seagrass, up to 62.1% of gut content mass. Recently, captive sharks fed with 13C-labelled seagrass diet showed their ability to successfully assimilate seagrass nutrients, making them omnivores. This is the first shark species to demonstrate omnivorous digestive strategy (Ref. 118574).

Found on the continental and insular shelves, on inshore and coastal areas, over mud and sand bottoms, also on coral reefs. Often occur in shallow water including estuaries, shallow bays and over coral reefs (Ref. 9987). Spends night time hours on shallow grass flats, searching for nocturnally active invertebrate prey, moves into deeper water during the day (Ref. 27549). Feed mainly on crustaceans, also on bivalves, octopi, and small fish. Viviparous, with 6 to 9 young per litter. Size at birth about 35 to 40 cm. Not territorial. Always occurs in small groups. Considerable sexual segregation occurs. Shows diel rhythm of activity. Utilized for human consumption and processed for fishmeal.

fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes