The world is next to us, but with difficultyAmenable to study and observation - the underwater world. Despite being very close, it has been studied less than the surface of Mars. Nevertheless, people are interested in unusual, and sometimes mysterious, inhabitants of this kingdom. Even toy manufacturers are fueling this interest: for example, the giant hammerhead shark KO.MAXI, released not long ago by DeAgostini, makes children wonder what kind of a creature it is, how it lives and how dangerous it is.
Description
The body of this fish is similar to the body of its relatives,excluding the unique shape of the skull. The giant hammerhead shark is the largest representative of not only the hammerhead family, but in general one of the largest sharks. In addition to the Arctic, these fish can be found in all oceans. Often this predator appears even on the rather cold shores of the Primorsky Territory of Russia - in the summer they are frequent guests in the Sea of Japan.
The giant hammerhead shark is noticeably different fromrelatives of the unique structure of the skull - on the head of a fish there is an outgrowth in the shape of a regular rectangle. Its scope is 25-27% of the whole body, while the front edge is curved very slightly. The mouth of this shark is in the shape of a strongly bent sickle. The teeth are rather small, triangular, their toothed edges. There are 17 rows of teeth in the upper jaw of a shark, 16-17 in the bottom.
All shark fins are sickle shaped.The largest is the anterior dorsal. A distinctive feature of young individuals is a dark corner of the posterior dorsal fin. The posterior edge of all fins has significant curvatures.
The body is colored unevenly: the color is dark brown, gray and olive on the back, very light, almost white, on the belly. Spots or drawings were not observed in any individual.
Giant hammerhead shark whose description maykill the desire to frolic in the ocean waves, it is not in vain has such a name. The average body length is 4-5 meters. However, there were also much larger specimens. Frequent fish with a length of about 6 meters, the very largest shark caught was 7.89 m long. The weight of the most impressive individuals can exceed 500 kg. The largest weight was registered in a female pregnant with fifty-five calves - 580 kg.
Habitat
The giant hammerhead shark has no clear rangehabitat - she loves to travel in different regions. You can see it in the suspended and in the shelf zone of the seas and oceans. It occurs in temperate latitudes and in tropical.
The Atlantic Ocean is “mastered” by sharks from Uruguay to North Carolina, from Senegal to Morocco. Fish swims in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the Pacific and Indian oceans, the giant hammerhead shark is found almost everywhere: both near the coast of Australia and near Polynesia. You can meet her from Peru to Southern California.
There is information, but it is not confirmed.it was documented that individual specimens were caught off the coast of Mauritania, the Gambia, Western Sahara, Guinea and Sierra Leone. The shark prefers to spend time in the coastal zones, hunting in the water column from the surface to at least 80 meters depth. Prefers to live in lagoons and coral reefs. It may choose a cozy place near the slopes of the islands or find deep-water places near the coast.
It is noticed that sharks are subject to seasonal migrations: in the warm season they are sent to higher latitudes.
Food
Hammerhead shark is gigantic like any otherA representative of this species of fish is a predator. It feeds mostly on bony fishes, crustaceans, reef (and if lucky, even larger ones) sharks, stingrays. Loves seahorses and poisonous stingrays. The spikes of stingrays do not interfere at all with the predator - there are cases when hundreds of these guns stuck in the caught specimen stuck in the belly. Sometimes it attacks marine mammals. Known cases of attacks on people.
Behavior
Most of the hammerhead sharks are loners. For hunting they use the sensory organs of sense, smell and binocular vision.
From a very early age, these fish are capable of attacking any inhabitant of the sea, even more aggressive and larger. The only danger for them is the sea parasites and people.
Reproduction
A giant hammerhead shark whose photo is capableto give up diving, is a viviparous fish. She has offspring every two years. The period of gestation of embryos is 11 months. In one litter can be from 6 to 55 cubs, but this number is rare. On average, fish bring from 20 to 40 fry. The length of newborns is 50-70 cm.
Unlike other sharks, these prefermate near the surface of the water. Puberty occurs when the female grows to 2.5-3 meters. Males need to reach the mark of "only" 2.3-2.7 meters in length.
These fish live an average of 20-30 years, but there are also those whose life lasts more than half a century.
Danger
In the ranking of the most dangerous creatures for humans, thisfish is in the top ten (among the inhabitants of the ocean). However, the shark doesn’t really attack as often. Divers, who met her in the water, say that most often she does not show aggression, but only curiosity. Nevertheless, one should not hope for it too much, sinking to the bottom. Known more than one attack shark hammer on a man.
The main reason for the rarity of cannibalism among thesesharks - its rare occurrence in densely populated areas. Most attacks were reported in the Philippines, Hawaii and the Florida Islands - most of the hammerhead sharks prefer to breed in these areas.
Fishing
Despite the high danger of this fish forman, the latter is much more dangerous for the whole species. The high taste qualities of shark fins have led to active fishing for this fish. Especially like shark fin soup in Asian countries - in these regions, fish is being destroyed at an enormous pace. Currently, its number is very small and continues to decline. Nowadays, the hammerhead shark is endangered. It is for this reason that it was listed in the International Red Book. That, however, does not prevent certain groups of individuals from continuing to engage in its fishing.
