Scalloped Hammerhead Shark

Description:

This is my first Spotting from Cocos Island, Costa Rica. One of the major attraction for Scuba Divers to come to Costa Rica is to see big school of Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks or getting close-up encounters with them. This Spotting are of the Sharks coming to the reef to get cleaned by Barber fishes and some times Angel fishes. To do that, they swims very slowly so that the reef fishes have the opportunity to clean them. Males Scalloped Hammerhead are smaller than the Females. Males can be up to 1.8 meters whereas the Females are up to 2.5 meters length. The scalloped hammerhead is a species of hammerhead shark, family Sphyrnidae. Originally Zygaena lewini, it was later moved to its current name. The Greek word sphyrna translates into "hammer" in English, referring to the shape of this shark's head. The most distinguishing characteristic of this shark, as in all hammerheads, is the 'hammer' on its head. The shark's eyes and nostrils are at the tips of the extensions. This is a fairly large hammerhead, though is smaller than both the Great and Smooth Hammerheads. This shark is also known as the bronze, kidney-headed or southern hammerhead.

Habitat:

It primarily lives in warm temperate and tropical coastal waters all around the globe between latitudes 46° N and 36° S, down to a depth of 500 metres (1,600 ft). It is the most common of all hammerheads.