Scalloped Hammerhead

The scalloped hammerhead is the third largest species of hammerhead. They are also one of the most common hammerheads, although their numbers are thought to have decreased in the past few decades.

Size and Weight
Scalloped hammerheads average 6 feet. Males are usually smaller (4-6 feet) and females are usually larger (6-8 feet). They weigh anywhere from 60-190 lbs.

Habitat
These sharks live in temperate and tropical waters in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

Prey
They eat fish and smaller sharks much of the time, but they occasionally prey on squid.

Behavior
Scalloped hammerheads often travel in schools of hundreds of sharks at a time. They travel and feed together in these schools. Large females are often in the centers of hammerhead schools, and when a male signals that he is wishing to mate, he bites her fins and they leave the school of sharks for a while to mate. These sharks are not normally aggressive, but like any larger shark, it is not wise to bother them since they will bite.