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A hammerhead shark in shallow water. According to the International Shark Attack File, humans have been subjects of 17 documented, unprovoked attacks by hammerhead sharks within the genus Sphyrna since AD 1580. No human fatalities have been recorded. [34] Most hammerhead shark species are too small to inflict serious damage to humans. [8]
Predators and Threats. Due to the great hammerhead shark’s immense size, it has few known predators. However, bull sharks prey upon the pups, and the adults are hunted and killed by killer whales.
Human exploitation now threatens the survival of this species. With its large size and cutting teeth, the great hammerhead could seriously injure a human, so caution should be exercised around them. This species has a (possibly undeserved) reputation for aggression and being the most dangerous of the hammerhead sharks.
According to the International Shark Attack File, humans have been subject to just 17 documented attacks by hammerhead sharks in recent history, with no human fatalities attributed to the species.
The smooth hammerhead is one of nine known species of hammerhead shark. It is considered "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's list of threatened species.
Sphyrna alleni, the shovelbill shark, is a species of hammerhead shark found along the West Atlantic coast from Belize to Brazil. Its pointed cephalofoil distinguishes it from the more northern bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo), from which it was split in 2024. The species is also diagnosed by different tooth and precaudal vertebrae counts.
Hammerhead sharks are overfished all around the world for their fins and liver oil. As of 2020 an estimated 1.3 to 2.7 million fins are collected each year from smooth and scalloped hammerhead sharks for the shark-fin trade. [34] DNA barcoding can assist in the identification of scalloped hammerhead remains to aid conservation efforts. [35]
A hammerhead “feeds mostly at dusk,” the Shark Research Institute reports, according to McClatchy News, and uses their head shape to “bludgeon” and pin stingrays and other aquatic life.